History of socialism

The historical development of ideas and movements seeking social or collective control of economic resources, from early critiques of inequality to modern political traditions and governments.

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Industrial Revolution: The transition to mechanized production and factory labor that began in Britain in the eighteenth century. Factory conditions and urban poverty gave early socialists a powerful critique of industrial capitalism.
Karl Marx: A German philosopher and political economist whose writings became foundational to communist and socialist movements. His critique of capitalism reshaped socialist politics and later inspired parties and revolutions.
Socialism: A family of political and economic ideas favoring social or collective control over key resources and production. Its broad principles encompass the distinct movements, parties, and governments traced here.
Paris Commune: A radical municipal government that ruled Paris from March to May 1871. Marxists and other socialists interpreted its brief rule as a model and warning for revolution.
Communism: A political ideal of a classless society with common ownership, and the movements claiming to pursue it. Its relationship to socialism shifted as revolutionary parties claimed exclusive authority to build a socialist order.
Utopian socialism: A nineteenth-century socialist tradition that proposed planned cooperative communities as alternatives to competitive society. Its experiments and blueprints preceded the rise of mass socialist movements.
Friedrich Engels: A German socialist thinker and collaborator of Karl Marx who analyzed industrial capitalism and class relations. His research and organizing helped form Marxism and sustain its movement after Marx’s death.
Capitalism: An economic system based largely on private ownership, markets, and production for profit. Socialist movements developed critiques and alternatives to capitalist ownership and class relations.
Russian Revolution: The 1917 upheavals that overthrew the Russian monarchy and brought the Bolsheviks to power. It created the first lasting government claiming to build socialism.
Anarchism: A political tradition opposing the state and other forms of coercive hierarchy. Anarchists shared socialist aims while rejecting the centralized state favored by many Marxists.