What is Socialism?

Below is just a basic introductory overview of the topic. For a more in-depth understanding of the theory behind socialism, please check out our Reading List.

Socialism is when the Working Class controls the Means of Production.

Means of Production refers to the property which is used to produce goods and services. When socialists talk about property, we’re not talking about your house or your toothbrush, we’re talking about factories, factory farms, buildings full of rentals, etc.

When we say Working Class, we’re not referring to measures of income, or to a particular type of profession. We define Class based one’s relationship to the Means of Production. You either own means of production, and profit from its productive ability, or you do not own Means of Production, and must make a living by selling your labor to someone who does, for a wage. The vast majority of us fall into the second group. Everyone who sells their labor – from fast food workers to engineers – is working class.

We define class this way because your relationship to the means of production has the most impact on your interests. One’s relationship with the Means of Production determines almost every other aspect of their life, and the division between the owners, and the working class, is the primary division at the root of our society. You have more in common with Working Class people of a different race, religion, or nationality than you have with someone who shares your race, religion, or nationality that happens to own Means of Production (in fact, the purpose of racism, in particular, is to convince white Working Class people to identify with white people from the owning class instead of identifying with Working Class black people!).

The relationship between the owning class (or Bourgeoisie) and Working Class is inherently exploitative, because the profits of the owning class come from surplus labor. Workers produce significantly more value than they are compensated for in wages, and that difference goes to the capitalist to be kept as profit or reinvested as capital. All of the excess of the rich, and the incredible wealth of billionaires, comes from the exploitation of workers as a class.

This causes a contradiction in our society. The vast majority of wealth is created by workers as a collective. It is a social process, because we often work together, or contribute only a part of the whole product, good, or service. However, because the Means of Production are owned and controlled privately, the wealth we create socially only benefits the wealthy individuals who own the Means of Production.

This contradiction – that wealth is privately owned even though it is socially produced – creates conflict. That conflict is at the root of most of the conflict and inequality in our society. It is a conflict that must be resolved in order to ease the suffering of exploitation and move society forward.

This brings us back to the definition of Socialism. Since wealth is socially created, we believe the means of production should also be owned and controlled socially (hence the name Socialism). This way the wealth we produce as a class benefits us all.

Under Capitalism we produce food to profit the owners of Kraft and Mondelez; under socialism we produce food to feed people. Under Capitalism we build houses so realtors and landlords can sell them or rent them out; under Socialism we build houses to shelter people. We can do that under Socialism because the means of production are owned and controlled by all of us.

The purpose of any Socialist organization (like ours) is to try to get working class people to advocate for themselves as a class. It is to build a mass movement around promoting Working Class interests. Our support for Tenant Organizing, Union Organizing, Mutual Aid, etc, are all driven by the goal of promoting Working Class interests. We are engaging in class struggle.

Any Socialist worth their weight in pamphlets recognizes that fighting all forms of oppression is part of the class struggle. We must be accomplices in the fight for racial justice because of how Capitalism in America has been built on the “free” labor of enslaved people, and the division between the white working class and black working class. We must support indigenous sovereignty because of how the wealth of America’s original capitalists was stolen from indigenous land. We must support colonized people throughout the world because of how Imperialism and Colonialism are just a way to ensure limitless growth for the owners of Capital, and because colonized people are part of the same working class we are. We must support our LGBTQ comrades because of how the bourgeoisie uses them as scapegoats, and because of how conservative “family values” really just serve bourgeois interests. We must support immigrants because they are working class people as well. 

But I thought socialism was the gateway to Communism!?

You’re right, but not in the way you think you are. When socialists and communists refer to “Communism” they’re referring to a hypothetical stateless and classless society that has never been accomplished. Socialism is the transitional stage to Communism because, in order for there to be a classless society we need to resolve the conflicts between classes by ensuring that the working class benefits from all it creates.

The communist regimes you think of as communist were called Communist because they were controlled by communist parties. Communist parties called themselves Communist because Communism (described above) was their ultimate end goal. Those regimes were a form of socialism – they were an attempt to use state power to put the means of production under the control of the working class – but they were not Communism (at least not technically).

It is important to realize that, although those regimes did fail in many ways, they also succeeded in many ways that we don’t get to hear about. The US Government – bought and controlled by the owning class – had an economic interest in opposing those countries. They were a threat to US economic dominance. The spread of communist regimes was a threat to colonialism and to capitalist profits. They also didn’t want socialist or communist movements in the US to gain any traction or support. Therefore, our media was saturated with exaggerated tales of how horrible they were, and any proof of their positive attributes was censored.

It is far beyond the scope of this article to defend or criticize those regimes. Knowing the above information, these are the important things to consider:

  1. We can, and will, learn from the successes and failures of those countries.
  2. What makes us Democratic Socialists is that we fight for democratic control of the means of production. We’re socialists because we love democracy, and believe democracy should be applied to the entire economy.

Moving forward

If you’re interested in learning more, check out our reading/listening list

If you want to join the struggle: