continued:
Marxism emerged in this milieu. Engels called it “scientific socialism” to distinguish it from the “feudal,” “petty-bourgeois,” “German,” “conservative” and “critical-utopian” strains the Communist Manifesto singled out for criticism. Socialism was a diffuse bundle of competing ideologies in its early days, and it stayed that way. Part of the reason is that the first chancellor of newly unified Germany, Otto von Bismarck, stole the socialists’ thunder when he implemented a number of their policies. Bismarck was no friend to socialist ideologues, whom he called “enemies of the Reich,” but he created the West’s first
welfare state and implemented universal male suffrage in order to head off the left’s ideological challenge.
Since the 19thcentury, a hard-left brand of socialism has advocated radical societal overhaul – if not an outright proletarian revolution – that would redistribute power and wealth along more equitable lines. Strains of anarchism have also been present in this more radical wing of the socialist intellectual tradition. Perhaps as a result of Bismarck’s grand bargain, however, many socialists have seen gradual political change as the means to improving society. Such “reformists,” as hardliners call them, were often aligned with “social gospel” Christian movements in the early 20thcentury. They logged a number of policy victories: regulations mandating workplace safety, minimum wages, pension schemes, social
insurance, universal healthcare and a range of other public services, which are generally funded by relatively high
taxes.
After the world wars, socialist parties became a dominant political force in much of Western Europe. Along with communism, various forms of socialism were heavily influential in the newly decolonized countries of Africa, Asia and the Middle East, where leaders and intellectuals recast socialist ideas in a local mold – or vice-versa. Islamic socialism, for example, centers on
zakat , the requirement that pious Muslims give away a portion of their accumulated wealth. Meanwhile socialists across the rich world aligned themselves with a range of liberation movements. In the U.S., many, though by no means all, feminist and civil rights leaders have espoused aspects of socialism.
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What is the difference between Communism and Socialism? | Investopedia Differences Between Communism & Socialism
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