What is Socialism? I. Introduction At first, The United States of America was a colonial, a land of hardship.

After the Revolution, they gained independence and united as a whole new country. Followed Capitalism since the young country was born, now The United States is the strongest country in the world. But they are facing a great challenge. The American economy is going down. American dream becomes a joke. People are jobless, out of money and even homeless. The leaders of the country are still struggling to find a solution as soon as they can. However, there is some public opinion states that: Maybe Socialism is back. II. Body 1. Traditional definition: According to Merriam-Webster dictionary, socialism1 is defined as: A system of society or group living in which there is no private property; or a system or condition of society in which the means of production are owned and controlled by the state Any of various economic and political theories advocating collective or governmental ownership and administration of the means of production and distribution of goods

 A stage of society in Marxist theory transitional between capitalism and communism and distinguished by unequal distribution of goods and pay according to work done. 2. Society under Socialism Socialist claims that real socialism is Democratic. So, Socialist government is not a central power government. It would not rule over people and places, but it empowers the people to control. Socialism means a government that its people collectively own and freely operate the industries and social services. In a socialist society, everybody will have the right to participate in the social decisions that affect them. These decisions could be on a wide range of issues. For example, one of the most important is to choose what kind of goods should be produced and what kind of services should be offered. 3. Economic system under Socialism Economic system under Socialism is known as public ownership of all major industries, banks and insurance companies, agricultural business, transportation, the media, and medical facilities2. Public ownership or common ownership is the main focus of Socialism. Socialist believes that the resources of the world should be owned in common by the entire global population. We always observe that workers produce more than those CEOs, but they got paid less. Socialism turns this

around so that the working class, which produces the wealth, can collect the profit and decide how it will be used to make the benefit for all. 4. Socialism in Marxist theory Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels founded a new movement that was called Socialism. According to Marx, the supreme end of man is an immanent and material one, and consists in happiness. This material happiness must be obtained through organized collectivism. In fact, according to Marx, reality is governed by economic needs. Economic reality must deny itself in order to reach a higher degree of being3. This principle means that the present organization of society must be destroyed. The proletariats (working men) have to stand up and take back what belong to them from the capitalists. They must represent for the social class to array against capitalism. This struggle, according to Marx and Engels, will end in victory for the proletariat, that is, in the triumph of universal Socialism4. 5. Morality of Socialism The morality of socialism can be summarized as: envy and self-sacrifice5. Envy here does not mean to be jealous with another's wealth but to view another's wealth lowered to the level of one's own. Socialism's teaching on self-sacrifice was everyone should give up their having to redistribute everything. By that scarification, the society becomes fair and equal.

III. Conclusion American people have feared of Socialism for a long time. The ideology of Socialism is completely different to that of American Capitalists. Also according to Merriam-Webster dictionary, the definition of capitalism6: An economic system characterized by private or corporate ownership of capital goods, by investments that are determined by private decision, and by prices, production, and the distribution of goods that are determined mainly by competition in a free market. American Capitalism is based on Individualism, which increases the desire of man to reach self-satisfaction. So everyone try to have more and more wealth. We also know that ones gain is another ones loss. The working class is always the largest group. So there are small group of men that actually make a lot more than the others. And that small group hold more wealth than they could spend for several lifetimes, but they are not willing to share. That is how the fear of Socialism begins.

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Merriam-Webster dictionary online

World Socialist Movement article, last updated 2006-08-13, 20:46:30 BST The Philosophy of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels.

3,4

C. Bradley Thompson, Socialism vs. Capitalism: Which is the Moral System?

On Principle, Vol. 1, No. 3. Autumn 1993.

References: 1. http://www.worldsocialism.org/articles/what_is_socialism.php 2. http://www.redletterpress.org/socialism101.html 3. http://lilt.ilstu.edu/rrpope/rrpopepwd/articles/socvcap.html 4. http://www.anu.edu.au/polsci/marx/classics/manifesto.html 5. http://debs.indstate.edu/s611p5_1908.pdf

Dr. Joan Anderson Philosophy 120 Ethics Khanh Mong Paper # 2 What is Socialism ? 04 07 2009