Tag: Socialism

Socialism

Socialism is both a political and an economic theory that was developed between 1750 1850 as a reaction and response to capitalism. It advocates for a system where the community as a whole owns and regulates the means of production, distribution and exchange.It aims to a build a new social order and remove the maladies of the capitalistic system. The chief proponents of socialism are Robert Owen, Sismondi, Saint-Simon and Charles Fourier.

Throughout history, there has always been a big gap between the rich and the poor due to monopolization of the means of production by a few people. The select few have constantly exploited the poor to amass wealth and to retain power. The poor barely meet the necessities of life and do not control any means of production. During the industrial stage, the gulf between the poor and the rich widened unlike before. Post the Industrial Revolution, the introduction of machines increased the divide and led to the concentration of the means of production in the hands of an even more select few. They took advantage of their position and churned out illegitimate profits. This exploitation was the reason the idea of socialism was developed.

Definitions:

Some definitions of socialism are:

Humphrey:

“ Socialism is a system of society in which means of life belong to the community as a whole, and are developed and operated by the community.”

Here, means of life refers to things like land, capital, implements and other such things which help humans to earn a living. 

Hugham:

 “Socialism is the political movement of class which aims to abolish exploitation by means of the collective ownership and democratic management of basic instruments of production and distribution.” 

Socialism developed as a response to capitalism and its primary aim was to create a new social order that eliminates the drawbacks of capitalist system. According to the proponents of socialism, capitalism fosters competition among citizens, as a result making them egoistic and immoral. It also leads to needless expenditure. It encourages a certain few to monopolise means of production and allows them to exploit other people. So the proponents propose a certain way to eliminate the miseries caused by capitalism. They propose that the factors of production be controlled by the community as a whole and not allow individuals to control the means of production. This idea formed the crux of socialism.

There are certain general principles to this theory. According to C. E. M Joad, socialism is “like a hat which has lost its shape, because everybody wears it.” Socialism as an idea has gone through many changes and one exact definition cannot be agreed upon. Nevertheless, some general principles can be seen as its distinguishing features. Socialism opposes capitalism because it believes it to be the cause of exploitation of resources. It aims to protect the common population from the select few. It advocates for social ownership of material resources and that the community should own all the factors of production like land, other property industries, etc. The motive behind production should be social necessity and not profit making for the benefit of one. Its action should at the end benefit the society. Some proponents of socialism have advocated for absolute economic equality where everyone is given the same rewards and other proponents have advocated for proportionate economic equality where people are given rewards to fulfil their basic needs. It is completely opposed to laissez-faire economy and favours the establishment of a planned economy. It is for the abolition of the institution of private property to bring about social equality. It believes in the widening of democracy, and is of the view that socialism and not capitalism can help further this end. 

Socialism has been subjected to criticism for certain of its aspects. The most important criticism of all about socialism is that it crushes the very spirit of the individual. Socialism establishes an order where there is no scope of incentive for people to work, as everyone is distributed the same or similar rewards and there is no scope for any additional incentive as a result of the individual’s hard work. Another major criticism of socialism is its impracticality. It cannot be implemented in a real world scenario as it does not provide people any incentive to work. Perfect socialism has not existed anywhere and even the countries that proclaim themselves as socialist are not completely socialist. In this theory, the State overburdened with too many functions like distribution of resources, controlling of  production, distribution of rewards, etc. This will lead to inefficiency. One other major criticism is that the State interferes with everything. Socialism kills individual freedom.

Is India wrecked by socialism?

India’s economy is socialist, according to the constitution. Mrs. Indira Gandhi introduced this word in the 1970s. As the British occupied India for nearly 150 years, they began as a firm to transfer raw materials from India to the United Kingdom. This has frightened India into reopening its market to the rest of the world. Nehru was unusual in this regard; he permitted only a few enterprises to expand and concentrated his efforts on the agriculture sector.

The term ‘socialist’ was added to the Preamble by the Forty-second Amendment.

In the past, the Indian government implemented many social welfare programmes to demonstrate its socialist credentials, such as bank nationalisation, various job initiatives such as NREGA, and even selling milk. While the majority of these ponzi schemes failed, they added to the government’s financial burden. All of these ideas had a significant impact on citizens. Everyone began to rely more heavily on free goods. People began to expect cheaper rations, a free cooker, and subsidised gasoline or kerosene. Except for a few communities such as the Marwadi and the Gujratis, no one backed private industry, and everyone was focused on government jobs. Entrepreneurs were frequently reprimanded or disheartened. Profit was viewed as a bad thing, and wealthy people were frequently blamed for the country’s plight. In films from the 1970s and 1980s, the villain is typically wealthy, smoking a cigar, holding a peg of whisky in one hand, and plotting how to exploit low-wage workers. Building a business involves time, effort, risk, and expertise. In India, the image of business and the evil it entails is still pervasive. A large number of people still rely on the government to help them. Everything that is wrong with their lives is due to the government in some way.

India gradually up its market to the rest of the world and established a free market economy in 1991. While every step India takes has a significant impact, we have fallen behind other countries such as China, which began reforming a decade ago. China was able to nail down a few details regarding how the business model will work in a communist country. In India, entrepreneurs find it extremely difficult to start a firm because of the so-called red tape that still exists. The Indian bureaucracy is rotting from the inside out. The nature of the “Sarkari Babus” is still incompetent, slow, and corrupt. Obtaining land, establishing a factory, and obtaining a licence are all arduous tasks for entrepreneurs.

India chose a government-directed growth path over a market-driven one when it gained independence. With a GDP of around Rs.36 thousand crores and government revenue of around Rs.330 crores, we were a shaky economy. The average lifespan was only 31 years. That was an opportune time to pass away. We were also hard struck by the costs of World War II, as well as the bloody partition, which saw the largest human migration in history. Market forces would have positioned us as the world’s tailors, cobblers, and domestic assistance suppliers, given our large and impoverished population. Nehru, on the other hand, chose to invest on new infrastructure (the Temples of Modern India) in order to propel India ahead. The four huge steel plants, the DVC, the Bhakra Nangal project, and numerous public sector investments in power, locomotives, railway coaches, paved roads, irrigation, water supply, schools, IITs and IIMs, hospitals, and other areas were among them. The pressures continued to mount until we were on the verge of declaring bankruptcy in 1991. Then came the Narasimha Rao government, with Manmohan Singh as Finance Minister and Chidambaram as Commerce Minister, which changed everything. Nonetheless, all administrations since then have been mindful of the need to help India’s poor, rather than abandoning them to market forces.

Importance of talking.

we humans are no super heroes, we are blessed with various things like ability to help people, emotional intelligence, gut feelings so on and so forth

But we can’t read minds- right?

there’s a gap between your and others brain every brain works differently and to bridge that gap you have to be vocal and be clear

Set the expectations make yourself heard loud and clear as worst case scenario if things don’t work out you have your satisfaction that you were vocal and you can end things peacefully.

transparency is the key – be transparent so that the people can in act and interact with you.

If you are an introvert, then for you I will suggest that speaking in mind is never gonna help you but I will always put you in a situation where you find yourself uncomfortable. So, atleast talk little bit and if not then Stop filling gap and also thinking to fill the gap. That way you can lead a good way.

So, tell us why you think it’s important to talk, in comment section down below.

See yaa…