To what extent have socialists disagreed over the means of achieving

socialism?

Although all Socialist acknowledge the negative impact industrialization has had on
society, they disagree on what should be done about it and how to achieve their ideas of
Socialism. Although there is some agreement within strands such as within the
Revolutionary tradition of Socialism, on the whole, each tradition has vastly different
solutions to achieving Socialism, with the biggest disagreement coming from revolutionary
socialist such as Karl Marx and Evolutionary Socialist such as Anthony Crosland. Therefore,
this essay will be arguing that Socialist mostly disagree over the means of achieving
Socialism.

Among the Socialism ideology, there is mostly disagreement over the way of
achieving Socialism. However, there is some agreement between strands, and in particular
within the strands themselves, which can be seen within Revolutionary Socialism. There is a
consensus among Revolutionary Socialist with the means to achieve Socialism. As per the
name, Revolutionary Socialist agree that Revolution is the only viable way to achieve
Socialism. They think this due to them believing that the State is against the interests of the
Proletariat/Working classes, and is infact as Karl Marx describes, a “tool” of the
“Bourgeoisie”. Therefore, Socialism through gradual reform is impossible due to the State’s
design to uphold the Capitalist Superstructure. Key Revolutionary thinker’s Karl Marx and
Friedrich Engels believe that over time a “class consciousness” would form, which is a
collective set of goals and interests among the Proletariat class due to the struggle from
Capitalism. Marx and Engels believed that this “class consciousness” would form, leading to
a “class struggle” that would inevitably see a revolution take place to otherthrow the
“bourgeois state”, with Marx telling the workers that they had ‘nothing to lose but their
chains’. This would as he saw it, begin the transition to Socialism. Rosa Luxembourg,
another key Revolutionary Socialist theorist agrees with the need for Revolution to achieve
Socialism, describing such revolution as to ‘spontaneously’ occur due to the formation of
such a ‘class consciousness’ with workers fighting for rights in the factories. Overall, among
revolutionary socialist, there is a majority consensus concerning the nature of achieving
socialism, with Marx and Luxembourg believing that due to the struggle from capitalism, a
‘class consciousness’ would naturally form to overthrow the state and move society towards
Socialism. Any other method such as Reform would not work due to the State being merely
a “tool” of the bourgeoisie with an interest in retaining Capitalism and therefore the
exploitation of the people.
To what extent have socialists disagreed over the means of achieving
socialism?
However, it is still clear that Socialist disagree fundamentally among one another
among the changes needed to achieve Socialism, with the strongest of these disagreements
coming from the differences between Evolutionary and Revolutionary Socialist. As
mentioned previously, Revolutionary Socialist such as Karl Marx view “class conflict” as the
only viable method to achieve socialism, with a ‘class consciousness’ forming due to the
struggle of capitalism among the proletariat, with a revolution overthrowing the State and
installing a “dictatorship of the proletariat”, overseeing the transition from Capitalism to
Socialism. With any attempt to achieve Socialism with reform as being impossibl;e due to the
State being a ‘tool’ of the bourgeoisie, encouraging ‘workers of the world, unite!’ thereby
actively calling for revolution. This can be contrasted with Evolutionary Socialism and the
traditions within it. Democratic Socialists advocate for Socialism through gradual reform. This
can been seen with Beatrice Webb, who during a time of the expansion of the political
franchise, believed as Working Men got the vote, it was possible to achieving Socialism
through reform as these men would naturally vote for Socialism, with the Working classes
being a majority of the population, a Socialist government could be formed. Social
Democrats such as Anthony Crosland agree with this, seeing reform as the best way to
achieve Socialism. Crosland focussed on ‘humanising capitalism’ believing that a mixed
economy would be the best way of ensuring his version of socialism, which could all be done
by an elected government through reform, such as Atlee’s government in the 1940’s, which
largely inspired Crosland. Again, the Third Way tradition agree with this belief as well, with
thinkers such as Sir Anthony Giddens believing that through social reform, equality and
prosperity can be achieved within society, through an elected government, He view it as the
State’s Job to build infrastructure and ensure equality of opportunity, which was his belief the
best way of achieving Socialism. In conclusion, Evolutionary and Revolutionary socialist view
of achieving socialism differ greatly, as Revolutionary Socialist believe in revolution through
‘class conflict’, seeing the state as a ‘tool’ of the bourgeoisie that did not have the best of
intertest for the workers at heart, seeing Revolution as the only way of achieving Socialism.
Whereas, Evolutionary Socialist traditions such as Social Democracy and the Third Way,
along with Beatrice Webb saw reform as the best way going about to reaching Socialism, as
with the expansion of the franchise in the late 19th to early 20th century, it was possible to
elected a Socialist government which could begin the transition to Socialism.

On the whole, although there is some agreement within traditions, such as

Revolutionary Socialism, with an agreement that Socialism is only possible through
Revolution, with the formation of a ‘class consciousness’ overall, Socialist disagree about the
means of achieving Socialism, which is best highlighted with the contrasting views of
Evolutionary Socialist, with Evolutionary Socialist such as Beatrice Webb seeing reform as a
viable way to achieving Socialism due to the expansion of the Political franchise making it
possible to elect a Socialist government, which could begin the transition to Socialism.