Liberalism

Socialism (Social Democracy)

Social democracy is a political ideology emerging in the late 19th and early 20th centuries from supporters of Marxism who believed that the transition to a socialist society could be achieved through democratic evolutionary rather than revolutionary means.  During the early and mid-20th century, social democrats were in favor of stronger labor laws, nationalization of major industries, and a strong welfare state.  Over the course of the 20th century, most social democrats gradually distanced themselves from Marxism and class struggle.  As of 2004, social democrats generally do not see a conflict between a capitalist market economy and their definition of a socialist society, and support reforming capitalism in an attempt to make it more equitable through the creation and maintenance of a welfare state.  Most social democratic parties are members of the Socialist International, which is a successor to the Second International.

Often, the term socialism is used to denote social democrats, although in many countries socialism is a broader concept including democratic socialists, Marxists, communists, libertarian socialists and sometimes anarchists.

In the past, social democrats were often described as reformist socialists (since they advocated the implementation of socialism through gradual reforms).  They were contrasted with the revolutionary socialists, who advocated the implementation of socialism through a workers' revolution.  Today, however, the democratic socialists carry on the legacy of reformist socialism and seek to bring about a fully socialist system through electoral means, while most of the social democrats only wish to make capitalism more equitable (and see the abolition of capitalism as unnecessary).

In 21st Century America, these guys all belong to the Democratic Socialists of America (DSAUSA).  A surprisingly large number of these individuals are in the United States House of Repesentatives.

Progressivism

Progressivism is any of several historically related political philosophies or political ideologies. There are also a number of progressive political parties in various countries. Political progressivism per se can not be classified as left or right in any particular political spectrum, although current progressive parties align themselves to the left.
 

Social safety net:
Those that work hard and play by the rules should receive a decent standard of living, as well as freedom, security, and opportunity.

Democracy:
Minimize concentrations of political, corporate, and media power so that individuals have a stronger voice in their government. Publicly finance elections to reduce the influence of wealth in the political process. Improve public education, especially in civics and history so that more citizens can take part in the political process. Bring corporations under stakeholder control, not just stockholder control.

Larger role for government:
Government provides public services that the private sector cannot or is not doing effectively, or ethically. Government should promote and, if possible, provide greater democracy, more freedom, a better environment, broader prosperity, better health, greater fulfillment in life, less violence, and the building and maintaining of public infrastructure.

Ethical business sector:
In the course of making money by providing products and services, businesses should not adversely affect the public good, as defined by the above values.

Foreign policy:
The same values governing domestic policy should apply to foreign policy whenever possible.

There are a lot of socialists and Marxists running around calling themselves, "progressives."  They parrot the above goals but their real goal is the implementation of communist principles.

These are the guys you got to watch, because they are really wolves in sheep's clothing.

Marxism

Marxism is the political practice and social theory based on the works of Karl Marx, a 19th century philosopher, economist, journalist, and revolutionary, along with Friedrich Engels.  Marx drew on Hegel's philosophy, the political economy of Adam Smith, Ricardian economics, and 19th century French socialism to develop a critique of society which he claimed was both scientific and revolutionary.  This critique achieved its most systematic (if unfinished) expression in Das Kapital (Capital: A Critique of Political Economy).

Since Marx's death in 1883, various groups around the world have appealed to Marxism as the intellectual basis for their politics and policies, which can be dramatically different and conflicting.  One of the first major splits occurred between the advocates of social democracy, who argued that the transition to socialism could occur within a democratic framework, and communists, who argued that the transition to a socialist society required a revolution.  Social democracy resulted in the formation of the British Labour Party and the Social Democratic Party of Germany, while communism resulted in the formation of various communist parties.

Although there are still many Marxist revolutionary social movements and political parties around the world, since the collapse of the Soviet Union and its satellite states, relatively few countries have governments which describe themselves as Marxist.  Although social democratic parties are in power in a number of Western nations, they long ago distanced themselves from their historical connections to Marx and his ideas.  As of 2004, Laos, Vietnam, Cuba, and the People's Republic of China have governments in power which describe themselves as Marxist.  North Korea is inaccurately described as Marxist, as both Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il have rejected conventional Marxist views in favor of the Korean "communist" variant, juche.

Cultural Marxism

Cultural Marxism is a branch of western Marxism, different from the Marxism-Leninism of the old Soviet Union.  It is commonly known as "multiculturalism" or, less formally, Political Correctness.  From its beginning, the promoters of cultural Marxism have known they could be more effective if they concealed the Marxist nature of their work, hence the use of terms such as "multiculturalism."

Cultural Marxism began not in the 1960s but in 1919, immediately after World War I.  Marxist theory had predicted that in the event of a big European war, the working class all over Europe would rise up to overthrow capitalism and create communism.  But when war came in 1914, that did not happen.  When it finally did happen in Russia in 1917, workers in other European countries did not support it.  What had gone wrong?

Independently, two Marxist theorists, Antonio Gramsci in Italy and Georg Lukacs in Hungary, came to the same answer: Western culture and the Christian religion had so blinded the working class to its true, Marxist class interest that Communism was impossible in the West until both could be destroyed.
 

Communism

Communism is a term that can refer to one of several things: a certain social system, an ideology which supports that system, or a political movement that wishes to implement that system.

As a social system, communism would be a type of egalitarian society with no state, no private property and no social classes.  In communism, all property is owned by the community as a whole, and all people enjoy equal social and economic status.  Perhaps the best known principle of a communist society is "From each according to his ability, to each according to his need."

As an ideology, the word communism is a synonym for Marxism and its various derivatives (most notably Marxism-Leninism).  Among other things, Marxism proposes the materialist conception of history; there are four stages of economic development: slavery, feudalism, capitalism, and communism.  These stages are advanced through a dialectical process, refining society as history progresses.  This refinement is driven by class struggle.  Communism is the final refinement as it will result in one class.

As a political movement, communism is a branch of the broader socialist movement.  The communist movement differentiates itself from other branches of the socialist movement through various things, such as, the communists' desire to establish a communist system after the socialist one, and their commitment to revolutionary strategies for overthrowing capitalism.

The dictatorship of the proletariat is defined by Marxist theory as the use of state power by the working class against its enemies during the passage from capitalism to communism, entailing control of the state apparatus and the means of production.  After this intermediate socialist phase, Marx theorized that communism's final stage would be a classless society in which the bourgeoisie has been eliminated and the masses (the proletariat) have full control.

Vladimir Lenin, leader of the Bolsheviks during the First Russian Revolution and first ruler of the Soviet Union, created the concept of the "vanguard of the proletariat."  He believed that a successful Communist revolution could be achieved by professional revolutionaries who would presumably represent the proletariat. Lenin's expansion upon Marx's original theory of communism came to be known as Marxism-Leninism, an ideology that held significant worldwide influence following the successful Bolshevik Revolution in Russia. Under Joseph Stalin the phrase, in practice, also essentially came to be understood as a dictatorship in the name of the proletariat.

Stalinism (Marxism-Leninism)

The term "Stalinism" is sometimes used to denote a brand of communist theory, dominating the Soviet Union and the countries who were the Soviet sphere of influence, during and after the leadership of Joseph Stalin.  The term used in the Soviet Union, and by most who uphold its legacy, however, is "Marxism-Leninism".  Reflecting that Stalin was not a theoretician, but a communicator who wrote several books in language easily understood, and, in contrast to Marx and Lenin, made few new theoretical contributions.  Rather, Stalinism is more in the order of an interpretation of their ideas, and a certain political system claiming to apply those ideas in ways fitting the changing needs of society, as with the transition from "socialism at a snail's pace" in the mid-twenties to the forced industrialization of the Five-Year Plans.  Sometimes, however, the compound terms Marxism-Leninism-Stalinism, or teachings of Marx/Engels/Lenin/Stalin, are used to show the alleged heritage and succession.  Simultaneously, however, many people professing Marxism or Leninism view Stalinism as a perversion of their ideas; Trotskyists, in particular, are virulently anti-Stalinist, considering Stalinism a counter-revolutionary policy using Marxism as an excuse.

Relativism

Relativism is identified as the thesis that all points of view are equally valid. In ethics, this amounts to saying that all moralities are equally good; in epistemology it implies that all beliefs, or belief systems, are equally true.  Critics of relativism typically dismiss such views as incoherent since they imply the validity even of the view that relativism is false.  They also charge that such views are pernicious since they undermine the enterprise of trying to improve our ways of thinking.

Perhaps because relativism is associated with such views, few philosophers are willing to describe themselves as relativists.

However, most of the leading thinkers who have been accused of relativism -- for example, Ludwig Wittgenstein, Peter Winch, Thomas Kuhn, Richard Rorty, Michel Foucault, Jacques Derrida -- do share a certain common ground which, while recognizably relativistic, provides a basis for more sophisticated, and perhaps more defensible, positions.

Although there are many different kinds of relativism, they all have two features in common.

1) They all assert that one thing (e.g. moral values, beauty, knowledge, taste, or meaning) is relative to some particular framework or standpoint (e.g. the individual subject, a culture, an era, a language, or a conceptual scheme).

 

2) They all deny that any standpoint is uniquely privileged over all others.

It is thus possible to classify the different types and sub-types of relativism in a fairly obvious way.  The main genera of relativism can be distinguished according to the object they seek to relativize.

Thus, forms of moral relativism assert the relativity of moral values; forms of epistemological relativism assert the relativity of knowledge. These genera can then be broken down into distinct species by identifying the framework to which the object in question is being relativized.  For example, moral subjectivism is that species of moral relativism that relativizes moral value to the individual subject.

How controversial, and how coherent, these forms of relativism are will obviously vary according to what is being relativized to what, and in what manner.  In contemporary philosophy, the most widely discussed forms of relativism are moral relativism, cognitive relativism, and aesthetic relativism

Populism

Populism is a political ideology or rhetorical style that holds that the common person is oppressed by the "elite" in society, which exists only to serve its own interests, and therefore, the instruments of the State need to be grasped from this self-serving elite and instead used for the benefit and advancement of the people as a whole.  A populist reaches out to ordinary people, talking about their economic and social concerns, and appeals to their common sense.

Individual populists have variously promised to "stand up to corporations" and "put people first."  Populism often incorporates nationalism, jingoisms, and occasionally racism.
 

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