Ethical socialism

Ethical socialism is a political philosophy that appeals to socialism on ethical and moral grounds as opposed to economic, egoistic, and consumeristic grounds.[1] It emphasizes the need for a morally conscious economy based upon the principles of altruism, cooperation, and social justice while opposing possessive individualism.[2]

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In contrast to socialism inspired by rationalism, historical materialism, neoclassical economics, and Marxist theory which base their appeals for socialism on grounds of economic efficiency, rationality, or historical inevitability, ethical socialism focuses on the moral and ethical reasons for advocating socialism.[1] It became the official philosophy of several socialist parties.[3]

Ethical socialism has some significant overlap with Christian socialism,[1] Fabianism,[4] guild socialism,[5] liberal socialism,[6] social-democratic reformism,[7] and utopian socialism.[8] Under the influence of politicians like Carlo Rosselli in Italy, social democrats began disassociating themselves from orthodox Marxism altogether as represented by Marxism–Leninism,[9] embracing an ethical liberal socialism,[6] Keynesianism,[9] and appealing to morality rather than any consistent systematic, scientific or materialist worldview.[10][11]

Social democracy made appeals to communitarian, corporatist, and sometimes nationalist sentiments while rejecting the economic and technological determinism generally characteristic of both orthodox Marxism and economic liberalism.[12]

Overview
Clement Attlee, prime minister of the United Kingdom (1945–1951)

The utopian socialists, one of the first currents of modern socialist thought, presented visions and outlines for imaginary or futuristic ideal societies, characterized by the establishment of a moral economy, with positive ideals based on moral and ethical grounds being the main reason for moving society in such a direction.[8] Before Marxists established a hegemony over definitions of socialism, "the term socialism was a broad concept" which referred to one or more of various theories aimed at solving the labour problem through radical changes in the capitalist]] economy. Descriptions of the problem, explanations of its causes and proposed solutions such as the abolition of private property or supporting cooperatives and public ownership varied among socialist philosophies.[13]

The term ethical socialism initially originated as a pejorative by the Marxian economist Rosa Luxemburg against Marxist revisionist Eduard Bernstein and his reformist supporters, who evoked neo-Kantian liberal ideals and ethical arguments in favour of socialism.[14] Self-recognized ethical socialists soon arose in Britain such as the Christian socialist R. H. Tawney and its ideals were connected to Christian socialist, Fabian, and guild socialist ideals.[15] Ethical socialism was an important ideology within the British Labour Party.[16] Ethical socialism has been publicly supported by British prime ministers Ramsay MacDonald,[17] Clement Attlee,[18] and Tony Blair.[16] While Blair described New Labour as a return to ethical socialism, several critics accused him of completely abandoning socialism in favour of capitalism.[19]

Ethical socialism had a profound impact on the social democratic movement and reformism during the later half of the 20th century, particularly in Great Britain.[7] Ethical socialism is distinct in its focus on criticism of the ethics of capitalism and not merely criticism of the economic, systemic, and material issues of capitalism.[1] When the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) renounced orthodox Marxism during the Godesberg Program in the 1950s, ethical socialism became the official philosophy within the SPD.[20]

Themes
R. H. Tawney, founder of ethical socialism

R. H. Tawney denounced self-seeking amoral and immoral behaviour that he claimed is supported by capitalism.[1] Tawney opposed what he called the "acquisitive society" that causes private property to be used to transfer surplus profit to "functionless owners", i.e. capitalist rentiers.[2] However, he did not denounce managers as a whole, believing that management and employees could join together in a political alliance for reform.[2] Tawney supported the pooling of surplus profit through means of progressive taxation to redistribute these funds to provide social welfare (including public health care, public education, and public housing)[2] and the nationalization of strategic industries and services.[2] He supported worker participation in the business of management in the economy as well as consumer, employee, employer and state cooperation in regulating the economy.[2]

Although Tawney supported a substantial role for public enterprise in the economy, he stated that where private enterprise provided a service that was commensurate with its rewards that was functioning private property, then a business could be usefully and legitimately be left in private hands.[21] Thomas Hill Green supported the right of equal opportunity for all individuals to be able freely appropriate property, but claimed that acquisition of wealth did not imply that an individual could do whatever they wanted to once that wealth was in their possession.[22] Green opposed "property rights of the few" that were preventing the ownership of property by the many.[22]

Ethical socialism was advocated and promoted by former British Prime Minister Tony Blair,[23][24] who has been influenced by John Macmurray, himself influenced by Green.[25] Blair has defined ethical socialism with similar notions promoted by earlier ethical socialists, such as emphasis on the common good, rights, and responsibilities, and support of an organic society in which individuals flourish through cooperation.[23][24][25] According to Blair, the Labour Party ran into problems in the 1960s and 1970s when it abandoned ethical socialism and believes that the party's recovery required a return to the ethical socialist values last promoted by the Attlee Labour government.[24][26] However, Blair's critics (both inside and outside Labour) have accused him of completely abandoning socialism in favour of capitalism.[19]

See also

References

Footnotes
  1. Thompson 2006, p. 52.
  2. Thompson 2006, pp. 58–59.
  3. Orlow 2000, p. 190; Tansey & Jackson 2008, p. 97.
  4. Thompson 2006, p. 58.
  5. Thompson 2006, p. 60.
  6. Bronner 1999, pp. 103–104.
  7. Dearlove & Saunders 2000, p. 427; Thompson 2006, p. 52.
  8. Draper 1990, pp. 1–21.
  9. Bronner 1999, p. 103.
  10. Wright 1999, p. 86: "This was an ideology which, at bottom, was grounded not in materialism but in morals. Thus Bernstein summoned up Kant to point the way towards a politics of ethical choices."
  11. Heywood 2012, p. 128: "The theoretical basis for social democracy has been provided more by moral or religious beliefs, rather than by scientific analysis. Social democrats have not accepted the materialist and highly systematic ideas of Marx and Engels, but rather advanced an essentially moral critique of capitalism."
  12. Berman 2008, pp. 12–13: "Regardless of the specific policies they advocated, one thing that joined all budding interwar social democrats was a rejection of the passivity and economic determinism of orthodox Marxism [...] so they often embraced communitarian, corporatist, and even nationalist appeals and urged their parties to make the transition from workers' to 'people's' parties."
  13. Brooks 1994, p. 75.
  14. Steger 1997, p. 115.
  15. Thompson 2006, pp. 52–60.
  16. Tansey & Jackson 2008, p. 97.
  17. Morgan 2006, p. 29.
  18. Howell 2006, pp. 130–132.
  19. Elliott, Faucher-King & Le Galès 2010, p. 18.
  20. Orlow 2000, p. 190.
  21. Thompson 2006, pp. 60–61.
  22. Carter 2003, p. 35.
  23. Blair 1994, pp. 1–16.
  24. Blair 1995, pp. 1–20.
  25. Carter 2003, pp. 189–190.
  26. Bevir 2005, p. 72.

Bibliography
Bevir, Mark (2005). New Labour: A Critique (1st ed.). London, England: Routledge. ISBN 9780415359252.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
Blair, Tony (1994). Socialism. Fabian phamplets. London, England: Fabian Society. ISBN 9780716305651.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
Blair, Tony (1995). Let Us Face the Future. Fabian phamplets. London, England: Fabian Society. ISBN 9780716305712.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
Bronner, Stephen Eric (1999). Ideas in Action: Political Tradition in the Twentieth Century. Oxford, England: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers. ISBN 9780847693870.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
Brooks, Frank (1994). The Individualist Anarchists: An Anthology of Liberty (1881–1908). Piscataway, New Jersey: Transaction Publishers. ISBN 9781560001324.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
Carter, Matt (2003). T.H. Green and the Development of Ethical Socialism. Exeter, England: Imprint Academic. ISBN 9780907845324.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
Dearlove, John; Saunders, Peter (2000). Introduction to British Politics (revised, updated 3rd ed.). Hoboken, New Jersey: Wiley-Blackwell. ISBN 9780745620954.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
Draper, Hal (1990). Karl Marx's Theory of Revolution, Volume IV: Critique of Other Socialisms. New York City, New York: Monthly Review Press. ISBN 9780853457985.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
Elliott, Gregory; Faucher-King, Florence; Le Galès, Patrick (2010). The New Labour Experiment: Change and Reform Under Blair and Brown. Palo Alto, California: Stanford University Press. ISBN 9780804762342.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
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Howell, David (2006). Attlee. London, England: Haus Publishing. ISBN 9781904950646.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
Morgan, Kevin (2006). Ramsay MacDonald. London, England: Haus Publishing. ISBN 9781904950615.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
Orlow, Dietrich (2000). Common Destiny: A Comparative History of the Dutch, French, and German Social Democratic Parties, 1945–1969. New York City, New Ork: Berghahn Books. ISBN 9781571811851.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
Steger, Manfred B. (1997). The Quest for Evolutionary Socialism: Eduard Bernstein and Social Democracy. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press. doi:10.1017/CBO9780511558603. ISBN 9780511558603.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
Tansey, Stephen D.; Jackson, Nigel A. (2008). Politics: The Basics (illustrated 4th ed.). Abingdon, England: Routledge. ISBN 9780415422437.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
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