socialism

/ˌsoʊʃəˈlɪzəm/

/ˈsʌʊʃəlɪzəm/

Other forms: socialisms

These days, the word socialism gets tossed around so much, it's almost lost all meaning. Originally, though, it was the bedrock of Marxism and meant that workers and their community should control the market for what they make.

Because the Soviet state eventually strayed far from Marx's idea of socialism towards Lenin's totalitarian communism, socialism is now often used to mean everything from "fascism" to "progressivism." But in its purest form, socialism was a political, social, and economic system meant to empower the working class. In the U.S. today, though, it's often used as shorthand for "the services that government provides and which are paid for by taxes." Depending on who's talking, that idea is either a goal or a target.

Definitions of socialism

1. noun

   a political theory advocating state ownership of industry
   types:

   Fabianism

   socialism to be established by gradual reforms within the law

   guild socialism

   a form of socialist theory advocating state ownership of industry but managements by guilds of workers

   utopian socialism

   socialism achieved by voluntary sacrifice

   type of:

   ideology, political orientation, political theory

   an orientation that characterizes the thinking of a group or nation
2. noun

   an economic system based on state ownership of capital
   synonyms: socialist economy

   antonyms:

   capitalism

   an economic system based on private ownership of capital

   types:

   communism

   a form of socialism that abolishes private ownership

   International

   any of several international socialist organizations

   Naziism, Nazism, national socialism

   a form of socialism featuring racism and expansionism and obedience to a strong leader

   Falange

   the Spanish Nazi party under Franco

   Bolshevism, collectivism, sovietism

   Soviet communism

   type of:

   managed economy

   a non-market economy in which government intervention is important in allocating goods and resources and determining prices