How Did Socialism Emerge?

Industrialisation led to the development of a new ideology, which provides a critique of capitalism and an alternative to the other two main ideologies. Socialists believe that people should join together and work collectively. The two main aims of socialism are the promotion of greater equality by means of redistributing resources from the wealthy to the rest and the organisation of society through rational planning rather than relying on market forces.

Revolutionary socialists argued that class conflict will would bring a revolution which overthrows capitalism. Without revolutionary socialists, parties can form governments which can radically transform society. Reformist socialists, on the other hand, are democratic socialists hoping to gain power and, therefore, transform the state. The social democrats do not expect to change the nature of society but hope to give the majority a fairer deal. Proper socialism nowadays is confined, in political terms, to minor parties since New Labour under Tony Blair.