The Philosophy of Equality: SOCIALISM

Socialism is born to correct the Economical and Ethical problems of capitalism. While Capitalism promotes the Value of Liberty, Socialism promotes Value of Equality. But for Socialism, here arise two basic questions:

1. Equality for what?

2. How will we get Equality?

Equality For What?

• Here Equality means Equality in Results, Unlike Equality of Laws in case of Liberalism. In socialism, this is not only Equality in opportunities but also Equality in the Outcomes which Ensures for the fulfillment of the basic needs of the people in spite of their abilities to earn.
• Equal rights, Equal Dignity, No hierarchical order, Absence of those identities which promote class division, equal access to resources, etc. 

How will we get Equality?

For answering this question, There have been many different means to get socialism around the world. Which can be summarized in three heads-

• Achieving Socialism by Change Of Heart.
• Achieving Socialism by Class Struggle. 
• Achieving Socialism by Democratic State. 

By Change of Heart:

This Type of Socialism is also called as Eutopian Socialism. The main propagator of this branch of Socialism is Mahatma Gandhi. The best example of this type of Socialism in India is The Bhoodan Movement or Land Gift Movement, which was initiated in Telangana (present-day), by Acharya Vinoba Bhave, who was influenced by Mahatma Gandhi's Sarvodaya movement, in 1951. It was a voluntary land reform movement to promote equality by persuading wealthy land-owners to voluntarily give a percentage of their land to landless people.

By Class Struggle:

This is a violent revolution to change the world and also known as Revolutionary Socialism. This is a struggle between two classes and the ultimate goal is to end and eliminate a class to bring equality in society. The objective of this class struggle to make classless society and this will lead to a world without any hierarchical order. The most famous propagator of this idea is Karl Marx. Here is a famous quote from Karl Marx which shows his ideology clearly, "The oppressed are allowed once every few years to decide which particular representatives of the oppressing class are to represent and repress them." The most famous ideas of this kind of Socialism are Communism, Marxism, Leninism, Naxalism, and Maoism.

By Democratic Socialism:

This type of Socialism can be achieved only through the Welfare State (Distributive State). Welfare state which works mainly for Deprived class and ensures the distribution of basic amenities to all section of societies which ultimately lead to equality. In a Distributive state, No private property can ensure complete equality i.e.(Equal rights and Equal resources) and thus the state will provide equality of basic needs to its subjects.

Why Equality is Considered to be the Supreme Ideal of Socialism?

To understand this We have to brainstorm on the question,
What are the arguments given by the people who support class division?

The argument, given by people who support Class division, is that the classes are made by nature, nature makes us different in terms of nature, capabilities, and duties and this makes the basis of different classes in the society. Thus classes in society are natural and Natural phenomena are Moral and Ethical and hence people support their claim over hierarchical society.
Are classes natural or they are just made by Elite class to exploit the lower classes of societies?

- Nature does not create any Identity on the ground of Sex, Caste, Religion, Duties, Capabilities these all identities are artificial(man-made). The only natural Identity is Human-Being. 

- in society, there is a mixing of natural and artificial capabilities. For the making of any capability Society, Birth Nation, Environment, Climate, Opportunities provided, etc are very important factors therefore Capabilities are not private totally and their profits also should not be totally private. Hence the claim of equal distribution of resources as the basic need is justified. In other words, we can say based on this argument that the Possessive individualism is not Moral. So there must be equality in terms of Equal distribution of Resources in Society.

MARXISM

As we have read already Marxism is a mean to secure Socialism that advocates the class struggle to bring equality in society. Marxism is not only the Dialectical Materialism but also Dialectic Idealism. Dialectical Materialism means the conflict caused by material needs between the two classes in the context to bring the change social order. Dialectic Idealism means the conflict between the two ideas(model of economies i.e. Socialist and Capitalist Economies).

According to Marx's idea, History changes according to economic conditions and the fundamental problem in the Economy arises with the questions- Whose production and the relation between the producer and the consumer. Marx called the Economy as Base-Structure as everything is decided by Nature of Economy and State, Society, Culture, Politics, Laws, Rules, Literature, Marriage, Family, etc all are Super-Structure determined by the Base-structure. This is the nature of society that False Rituals, Dogmas, False Literature, False Culture are constructed by elite class to exploit the Marginal classes of society. This condition, ultimately, leads to the conflict between two classes.

In any economy, if production increases with time, with the quantitative change in the production, there must be a qualitative change in Society also. But in the capitalist economy, this feature lacks so to ensure the qualitative change in their lives, people of One group/class act as a result of anger and knowledge and this action is Revolution.

This revolution has two final goals:
1. To end Elite Class.
2. To change the model of the economy to SOCIALIST. (Change of power to Proletariat from Bourgeoisie)


(Proletariat: is the working class, including farmers and factory workers. Bourgeoisie: is the capital owners and Elite Class.)

After securing Socialism, there may be Class Consciousness and Dictatorship of Proletariat. But When people will achieve the enlightenment, Dictatorship of the Proletariat will end and Finally, Communism will be achieved. With this, Classes and Class-Consciousness will vanish from society. Communism is justice according to Marxism ideology.

Communism- All society is one community and the institution of State is no longer required. Thus it leads to globalization and when everyone will have the freedom to choose their work according to their interests, specialization of work will be increased. Thus the products and services will be of better quality and the standard of life will get better.

LENINISM

LENIN proposed some changes in the Model of MARXISM and hence established his idea(LENINISM). The changes proposed, revolve around the one essential question-

Workers can not understand complex Ideas of the Economy(Oppression), then how will they perform the revolution and control the state?

Change Proposed-

• There should be a political party(Which he termed as Bolshevik Party), which can propagate ideas of Marxism to works in simple terms.
• This Party should choose the day and program of Revolution. 
• Workers Can not control the state and the economy, therefore, This party should have the short and long term visions very clear. 
• Party should have two arms -Political Arm, Military Arm because arm-less mob can not face military and Police. 
• The political party will control the state and represent Proletariat. 

Reasons Given for establishment of the party are-

• As the Conditions of Exploitation are not the same in each state, socialism will come in steps but communism must come at once in the whole world. For its coordinated implementation, there must be a party.
• For revolution, workers must be intellectual and should have military training and clear vision. 
• When the number of Socialist states becomes sufficient than there will be a revolution in big Capitalist states also.