5.13: Glossary

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Below is a glossary of key terms from the sources, organized in alphabetical order with concise definitions:

• Anarcho-Collectivism: A libertarian model proposed by Mikhail Bakunin that advocates for the immediate destruction of the state, the abolition of private property, and the self-management of production through autonomous federations based on common identity.
• Anti-globalization Movement: A heterogeneous movement that critiques global capitalism as a form of imperialism and advocates for international taxes on financial transactions, debt cancellation for developing countries, and the restoration of indigenous rights.
• Capitalism: A system criticized by socialists for allowing those who hold the means of production to establish domination, leading to the exploitation and alienation of the working class.
• Class Struggle: The Marxian concept of perpetual conflict between a dominant class (bourgeoisie) and a dominated class (proletariat) created by changes in modes of production throughout history.
• Communism: Conceptually, an ideal classless and stateless society; politically, since 1919, it refers to regimes and parties centered on a revolutionary vanguard and the establishment of a proletarian state.
• Cooperative Movement (Owenism): An approach to social change that rejects revolution in favor of creating communities based on rationality and cooperation, where tools of production and property are collective.
• Dictatorship of the Proletariat: A transitional historical phase toward socialism/communism in which the proletariat takes power to deconstruct capitalism; Lenin adapted this into a formal "proletarian state".
• Eco-socialism: A modern current that combines social and environmental critiques, seeking to subordinate "exchange value" to "use value" to prioritize social needs and environmental preservation over industrial growth.
• Emancipation: The socialist goal of overcoming obstacles to self-control and achieving a release from waged production to enable individual self-realization within a social framework.
• Exchange Value: The market value of a good, often including capital profit, which eco-socialists argue should be secondary to the actual utility (use value) of products and the environment.
• Federalism (Proudhonian): A political model for a stateless society based on contracts where individuals and communities bind themselves by common obligations while retaining their sovereignty.
• Globalization: A process that has split socialist thought; some see it as an opportunity for international regulation, while others view it as the "upper stage of capitalism" that exploits developing nations.
• Lassallism: A current that believes a democratic state achieved through universal suffrage is the best framework for emancipating the working class through production cooperatives.
• Libertarian Socialism: An anti-statist tradition that aspires to an egalitarian society and the immediate abolition of the state, primarily through mutualism or anarcho-collectivism.
• Marxism: Also known as "scientific socialism," it uses a materialist analysis of history to advocate for the revolutionary overthrow of capitalism and the collectivization of the means of production.
• Mutualism: A libertarian theory by Pierre-Joseph Proudhon where workers organize production themselves and offer interest-free capital so that labor is the sole generator of value.
• Productivism: A doctrine historically followed by many socialist currents that focuses on increasing the means of production through the exploitation of resources and the domination of nature.
• Reformism: A current that seeks to transform social and political institutions peacefully by gaining power through democratic means rather than violent revolution.
• Revisionism (Bernstein): A reformist evolution of Marxism that argues socialism should focus on gradual, evolutionary social progress and integrate the middle classes rather than seeking a violent break with capitalism.
• Social Democracy: A reformist current that proposes to gradually transform society through democratic institutions like universal suffrage and social progressivism.
• Socialism: An ideology perceiving society as an egalitarian community aspiring to the common good through social progress, generally advocating for emancipation from capitalist domination.
• Society (Socialist Definition): An egalitarian human community that aspires to the common good through social progress.
• “Third Way”: A social-liberal thesis that seeks a middle ground between old statist social democracy and neoliberalism, focusing on equal opportunities and societal progressivism.
• Utopian Socialism: Idealistic currents (such as Saint-Simonism) that seek to transform society by establishing ideal communities or "workshop utopias" managed in the collective interest.
• Vanguard Party: A Leninist concept of a party composed of professional revolutionaries organized to lead the proletarian revolution and take political power.