Socialism refers to a broad array of
ideologies and
political movements with the goal of a
socio-economic system in which property and the distribution of wealth are subject to control by the community. This control may be either direct—exercised through popular collectives such as
workers' councils—or indirect—exercised on behalf of the people by the state. As an
economic system, socialism is often characterized by
state, worker, or community ownership of the
means of production, goals which have been attributed to, and claimed by, a number of
political parties and governments throughout history. For
Karl Marx, who helped establish and define the modern socialist movement, socialism would be the socioeconomic system that arises after the
proletarian revolution, in which the means of production are owned collectively. This society would then progress into
communism.
Christian socialism generally refers to those on the
Christian left whose politics are both
Christian and
socialist and who see these two things as being interconnected. This category can include
Liberation theology and the doctrine of the
social gospel. Christian socialists draw parallels between what some have characterized as the
egalitarian and anti-establishment message of
Jesus, who — according to Christian
Gospel — spoke against the religious authorities of his time, and the egalitarian, anti-establishment, and sometimes
anti-clerical message of most contemporary socialisms. Some Christian Socialists have gone as far as to become active
Communists. (
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The economic anarchy of capitalist society as it exists today is, in my opinion, the real source of the evil... I am convinced there is only one way to eliminate these grave evils, namely through the establishment of a socialist economy, accompanied by an educational system which would be oriented toward social goals.
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—Albert Einstein, "Why Socialism?", May 1949
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