Difference Between Utopian and Scientific Socialism Contents Introduction: .......................................................................................................... 2 Utopian Socialism: ................................................................................................. 2 Scientific Socialism: ................................................................................................ 3 Comparative Analysis of Scientific and Utopian Socialism: .................................... 3 Evaluation: ............................................................................................................. 5 Conclusion: ............................................................................................................ 7 References ............................................................................................................. 7 Page | 1 Introduction: Socialism is a social and economic system characterized by social ownership of the means of production and co-operative management of the economy, as well as a political theory and movement that aims at the establishment of such a system wherein all the inhabitants would be happy and free from poverty and its cruel sting.. Here social ownership refers to cooperative enterprises, common ownership, state ownership achieved by nationalism, citizen ownership of equity or any combination of these. At the beginning of the 16th century, Thomas Moore in his ‘Utopia’ outlines this type of society which is criticized by Karl Marx and Angels as a Utopian Socialism. Though they criticized moor’s utopian socialism, on the basis of it they developed their concept modern socialism or scientific socialism at the 19th century. According to the question the definition of Utopian Socialism and the comparative discussion between Utopian and Scientific Socialism are given in below. Utopian Socialism: Utopian socialism is the first currents of the modern socialist thought as shown by the work of Thomas Moore, Henri de Saint-Simon, Charles Fourier and Robert Owen, Which inspired Karl Marx and other early socialist. It is an economic system based on the idea that if capital voluntarily surrendered its ownership of the means of production to the state or the workers, unemployment and poverty would be no more. Utopian socialists never actually used this name to describe themselves; the term "Utopian socialism" was introduced by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels in The Communist Manifesto in 1848. The term was used by later socialist thinkers to describe early socialist or quasi-socialist intellectuals who created hypothetical visions of egalitarian, communalist, meritocratic, or other notions of "perfect" societies without actually concerning themselves with the manner in which these societies could be created or sustained. Utopian socialism is often described as the presentation of visions and outlines for imaginary or futuristic ideal societies, with positive ideals being the main reason for moving society in such a direction. It also refers to human efforts to create a theoretically perfect society. It refers to good but impossible proposals- or at least ones that are difficult to carry out. Utopia – literally – was the name of an imaginary republic described by Thomas More in which all social conflict and distress has been overcome. He wrote Utopia in 1515, looking forward to a world of individual freedom and equality governed by Reason, at a time when such a vision was almost inconceivable. According to him Page | 2 “In Utopia, where every man has a right to everything, they all know that if care is taken to keep the public stores full, no private man can want anything; for among them there is no unequal distribution, so that no man is poor, none in necessity, and though no man has anything, yet they are all rich; for what can make a man so rich as to lead a serene and cheerful life, free from anxieties;” So, Utopian Socialism is a kind of socialism based on a belief that social ownership of the means of production can be achieved by voluntary and peaceful surrender of their capitals and the means of production by affluent groups to the state or the workers, unemployment and poverty would be ended. Scientific Socialism: Scientific socialism was developed by the Utopian Socialism. Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels developed it through the inspiration of the Utopian Socialism. It refers to a method for understanding and predicting social, economic, and material phenomena by examining their historical trends through the use of the scientific method in order to derive probable outcomes and probable future developments. Scientific Socialism is based on an analysis of existing material (economic and technological) conditions of society and of their development, and uses this analysis to predict probable future outcomes in terms of where society is moving toward. Scientific Socialism was pioneered by Karl Marx and developed by Frederic Engels. The scientific socialists were Karl Marx, Friedrich Engels and they claimed themselves as a Scientific Socialist. Comparative Analysis of Scientific and Utopian Socialism: Socialism is a social and economic system characterized by social ownership of the means of production and co-operative management of the economy which is the basis of both Scientific and Utopian socialism. After that on the basis of the nature of their theory and practice they divided into two groups i.e. the Scientific Socialist and the Utopian Socialist. But they have some similarities such as they (both Scientific and Utopian Socialist) wanted to abolish the private ownership creating the social ownership on the property. Unemployment and poverty elimination was the main purpose of both Scientific and Utopian Socialism. They also wanted to establish a society based on equality and equal ownership on property. Though they have these similarities, they have some dissimilarities. These are in the following. Page | 3 Scientific Socialism Utopian Socialism Scientific Socialism is based on an analysis of existing material (economic and technological) conditions of society and of their development, and uses this analysis to predict probable future outcomes in terms of where society is moving toward. Socialism was seen as a logical outcome of capitalist development and capitalist crisis in it. Utopian socialists start from an ideal vision of society, which is based on subjective value-judgements, and then try to move society in that direction. Scientific socialism refers to a method for understanding and predicting social, economic, and material phenomena by examining their historical trends through the use of the scientific method in order to derive probable outcomes and probable future developments. Scientific Socialism was pioneered by Karl Marx and developed by Frederic Engels. The scientific socialists were Karl Marx, Friedrich Engels and they claimed themselves as a Scientific Socialist. Socialism was seen as an outcome of voluntary and peaceful surrender of their capitals and the means of production by affluent groups to the state or the workers. It is the presentation of visions and outlines for imaginary or futuristic ideal societies. In this socialism, they did not outline how these society will be established. Perhaps the first utopian socialist was Thomas More (1478-1535), who wrote about an imaginary socialist society in his book Utopia, which was published in 1516 and later it was developed by Henri de Saint-Simon, Charles Fourier and Robert Owen. But they never claimed themselves as a Utopian Socialists rather they were criticized as Utopian Socialists by Karl Marx and Hegel. Scientific Socialism was both a method Utopian Socialism was only a theory. as well as a content and body of There was no practical perception. scientific conclusions, later becoming both a theory and a practice. Page | 4 Scientific socialism was developed by the Utopian Socialism. Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels developed it through the inspiration of the Utopian Socialism. It is a realistic view. Modern Socialism is a scientific movement based upon the historic evolution of the past and the economic conditions of the present. Utopian Socialism was the first currents of modern socialist thought. It inspired the Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels to develop scientific socialism. It is fantastic or imaginary view of socialism in which there is no evolution of historical events. Modern scientific Socialism builds upon reality. It looks upon society as an ever-changing category, and able to explain why society has changed in the past and why it must change in the future Scientific Socialists believe in the theory of class struggle. According to them- socialism is the outcome of the class antagonisms existing in the society of today between proprietors and nonproprietors, between capitalists and wage-workers; on the other hand, of the anarchy existing in production. Utopian Socialists depicted a series of ideal social conditions by drawing upon a fertile and imaginative idealism. It is a new socialism. It is an old socialism. Utopian Socialist do not believe in the theory of class struggle. They think that socialism is an outcome of voluntary and peaceful surrender of their capitals and the means of production by affluent groups to the state or the workers. Scientific Socialism was developed Utopian Socialism was developed through scientific method. In this through imagination and fantasy. socialism history was examined in a laboratory. Key thinkers of this group are Karl Key thinkers of this group are Thomas Marx, Friedrich Engels and the Moore, Henri de Saint-Simon, Charles contemporary modern socialist thinkers. Fourier and Robert Owen. Evaluation: From the above discussion it can be said that, it is important to highlight the commonalities between these two schools of thought first. Their introductions into the philosophical discourse of their given times were considered radical, based on their proponents challenging many traditional institutions and power structures. Page | 5 Both philosophical traditions yearn for a classless society– one where socioeconomic classes or divisions do not hinder people’s ability to provide for themselves and their families. These ideas inspired its proponents to do more than talk; they inspired action, whether forming communal enclaves separate from society or fighting revolutions to usurp power. Utopian socialism predates its scientific counterpart. In fact, it predates Marx and Engels’ seminal text. Prominent philosophers included Claude Henri de Rouvroy, Charles Fourier, and Robert Owen. Inspired by the French Revolution, many of these thinkers brought forth and celebrated classless principles such as women’s suffrage, ending feudalism, labor unions, social safety nets, and communal living. Many of these early 19th century thinkers inspired communal separation from the mainstream society, where voluntary groups of people lived and worked outside the realms of traditional culture. Utopian socialists could be considered the first hipsters of the socialist movement. In other words, they were socialist before it was cool to be socialist. For utopian socialists, their namesake wasn’t created until after the fact. Although deeply inspired by utopian socialist philosophers, Karl Marx added “utopian” as a harsh label as a means of creating buffer zone of distinction between it and scientific socialism. One of Marx’ biggest criticism of utopian socialism is that most of its philosophical foundations predated the Industrial Revolution – a time of great economic expansion and technological advancement that also stratified socioeconomic classes and developed widening gaps of economic equity. Since utopian thinkers were unable to summarize their philosophy on this specific historical era, they were unable to identify with the class struggle, which is the centerpiece of all modern socialist thinking. Utopian socialism was a hodge-podge of classless principles that did not necessarily root itself in empiricism. Marx sought to formalize and codify socialism as a socioeconomic theory drenched in the scientific method. The development of scientific socialism was tested in the laboratory of history. This philosophy established its primary principle that all historical eras were the result of economic conditions. Furthermore, those economic conditions produced inequalities in political, social, and economic power. Economic class stratification was expedited by the rise of industrial capitalism during the second half of the 19th century, which created two disparate classes of people: the proletariat and the bourgeoisie. The former was the working class which only could provide labor as its primary form of economic capital. The latter was the dominant class of those who owned land, business, and political persuasion. As conditions worsened for the proletariat, scientific socialism described the inevitable collapse of the capitalist system and its subsequent replacement of a classless and stateless socialist system. Despite its claims of objectivity, scientific socialism is not entirely science – at least, Page | 6 not in the same way physics, chemistry, microbiology, and other natural sciences are. Many critics argue that the socioeconomic philosophy starts with its hypothesis of class warfare and works backwards in history to prove its validity, which is the exact opposite route of the scientific method. Scientific socialism is, like all other ideologies, is lens that certain people use to view the world differently from others. Conclusion: From the above mentioned discussion we can see that there are some different between the two about their theory and practice. Regardless of their differences, both utopian and scientific socialism vehemently challenged the status quo of inequity and powerlessness of needy people throughout the world. The historical impact of these philosophies cannot be denied – from the formation of the Soviet Union to the wars that were fought to contain the spread of such ideologies in recent decades. Though in decline in global popularity, socialism still presents itself as an ever-present thorn in the side of the political establishment. References 1. Frederick Engels; Socialism: Utopian and Scientific 2. Wm. Paul; Scientific Socialism Its Revolutionary: Aims and Methods 3. Easton, L. and Guddat, K,; 1967; Writings of Young Marx on Philosophy and Society 4. Dr. Raj Sehgal; Karl Marx’s Scientific Socialism: A Defense 5. Ben Ruissen, Isidora Purkovic, Tijana Sero; Scientific Socialism - Marxism Page | 7