Connor M - Final Project

Exploring Ideology A look into our world’s ideals

. Collectivism . Collectivism is an ideology which encompasses the co-dependence of its participants. This means that rather than focusing on individual needs, a collectivist would be more concerned with the welfare of the community. Everyone looks after and depends on one another for their mutual survival.

. Communism . What it means: Communism is a political and economic ideology which stems from the values of collectivism. Cooperation and collective welfare are stressed, and it strives for equality and a classless society, and emphasizes the interest of the collective. Under a communist government, a country is centrally planned, and all resources and land are owned and controlled by the government. Citizens have little to no control over the country’s decision-making, so their freedom is greatly restricted. Communism provides citizens with guaranteed economic equality and social welfare in exchange for freedom.

Marxism - Further understanding of Communism Also known as Scientific Socialism, Marxism was an expansion/interpretation on communist ideals by Karl Marx and Fredrich Engels in the 1800’s. This form of collectivism was the first step taken toward the further development of Communism These guys believed heavily in collectivism, and the ideas that surfaced from this take on societal functionality are as follows: -Capitalism leaves the people in a state of chaos, but a society will function much better if it . is classless -Marx believed that isolationism was not beneficial to a society and that to truly thrive, a . community must work together - (Fredrich Engels) Developed the idea of This fine lad is Karl Marx, the . .. . communes, a system which ensured that father of Marxism, and the . citizens had three meals a day, a place to live, reason for the initial development of Communism. . and jobs to ensure that they were providing He wrote the communist . for the country manifesto which encases many values still employed by communist leaders today

Communism Back Then . There have been many communist leaders in the past, some of them good, some of them bad. An example of a communist leader from the past is a very prominent one; Joseph Stalin Who was Stalin? “Those who vote decide nothing; those who count the Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin was the leader of the communist vote decide everything” party, and leader of the Soviet Union. He was responsible for the country’s industrialization, but also for the dictatorship which he turned it into, and he single-handedly turned the nation from somewhat of a democracy to a strict dictatorship in less than a year. He was Vladimir Lenin’s successor

Communism today Indeed, communism still exists. Very much so, in fact, that there are even some extremist dictatorships in existence today. One of these dictatorships is North Korea, run by Kim Jong Un. Kim Jong Un Yes, he may seem like a harmless, stubby dwarf. However, you couldn’t be further from the truth if were to say that, because he has absolute control over everything in his country, including one of the world’s largest military forces, and could execute someone for just looking at him funny...or in general!

These are the places Communism is still currently active . As you can see, most of . Eastern Europe is . Communist. This says a lot about how the division of the cold war changed the world into the one we know today

Now, we introduce Socialism...

Socialism (Utopian) . Utopian Socialism - A political/economic idea which stresses the importance on the community; rather than the government owning, distributing and regulating everything, it is the community itself which carries out these functions on its own behalf. The government is still involved a lot, such as with distribution of wealth, but not as much as communism in Soviet Russia for example. It is called Utopian Socialism because this form of socialism strives for a “Utopian society”, maintaining a perfect balance between functionality and welfare. A Socialist believes in purposeful, gradual change. Socialism started as a social reform due to immense poverty and horrible working conditions in Industrialized Europe early in the 1900’s, sparked by a man named Sir Robert Owen.

Utopian Socialism Continued . The social reform in Europe took place when thinkers started to Sir Robert Owen criticize the effectiveness of the working class, and the rich who loomed over them, exploiting their hard work so that they could One of the first socialist thinkers. He was a Welsh Mill-owner, who had reap the benefits without working a day in their life. created a few short-lived “utopian” Socialism took off in the mid 1800’s, pushed by the writings of communes in the 1820’s, in Britain and Karl Marx and the rise of labor unions. the American Midwest. It spread mainly through Marxist German immigrants coming to Communes were collective homes run Western countries, who later started the Socialist Labour Party by factory owners for their workers, (SLP), 1876 where the workers all lived and worked together in one small community. They Then came along the first American socialist party, the Socialist received healthcare, a living space, and Party of America, as a result of ex-SLP members an income. Owen tried to advise other business owners to do this as well.

Socialism Back In The Day (Of China) . “When there is not enough food Now that’s fine China! to eat, people starve to death. It is better to let half of the people From 1949 to 1959, there was a man named Mao Zedong die so that the other half can eat in the position of Chairman of the People’s Republic of their fill” China. He was a marxist theorist and revolutionary, and was also one of the founders of the Republic of China. He was one of China’s most influential, yet controversial figures Responsible for the Chinese revolution in 1927 that lasted another 22 years, then the original dictatorship was overthrown and replaced by a republic, with him as their leader. Although he helped with this amazing feat, he was also responsible for the genocide of 45 million in 4 years It is said that he quickly turned the freedom of a new republic into oppression quick with the regimes to follow after the revolution

Another side of Communism - Democratic Socialism What is Democratic Socialism? In other words, Democratic Democratic socialism socialism, just like provides free public services The roots of this term are: collectivism, looks toward the to people nowadays. Democratic- By the people need of of the collective, but Socialism- For the people the difference is that the Such services include: people themselves determine -Public health What this means is that what exactly that need is. It -Policing Democratic socialism is a gives the people more -National defense system of socialism which looks freedom in what goes on in -Public roads to the people in all aspects of the community -Construction decision making. It means that -Housing, in some cases the people decide what it is that -Schools they need, and that need will be -Public transportation looked after, should enough people agree (thus being the majority of people’s wishes).

. Socialism today . . This is Erna Solberg vSocialism isn’t just a thing of the past; there are a couple countries that still employ socialist views. One country in particular that falls under this is Norway. Norway has been embracing Democratic Socialism since before the 1800’s, and they have really developed this practice over the years; poverty rate is less than 10%, they have very good technology and healthcare. They are an example of a successful socialist country. The current Prime Minister of Norway is Erna Solberg. FYI: The rose has been the symbol of socialism since the 1980’s, since the color red is associated with socialism.

Next up : Liberalism

Liberalism : What it means Liberalism is an expansion on the ideology of Liberalism started developing in the mid-1700s, individualism, mixed with collectivism; more when Jean-Jacques Rousseau came up with the liberty and freedom is given in this type of society, idea of ensured rights and freedoms for all but the individual is more important than the individuals. People pretty much gradually took collective. This is when things like Private Property, the ball and ran with it from that point, with Adam Smith being the next revolutionary to Rule of Law, Individual Rights/Freedoms, touch on this subject, coming up with idea of Competition, Economic Freedom, and Self-interest competition, which helped Britain to make the shift from a Monopolized, Rich-man-thrives come into play, as well as some collective rights. economy to a Free Market Economy. The shift toward the right of the spectrum truly started This system is pretty much the exact opposite of here. Communism

Modern Liberalism One country which represents this system fairly well is Canada. That’s Modern Liberalism is pretty much A symbol for modern right, we are living in a Modern built from Classical Liberalism. liberalism is a dove; Liberalist country. Run by none other Although not as much focused on civil symbol of freedom than Justin Trudeau rights and liberties, this one still encompasses some valuable ideas. Justin Trudeau, current PM of The ideas in Modern Liberalism are Canada based upon Social Justice and a mixed economy. We’ll get into it further in a second, but all you need to know about a mixed economy for now is that it depends on the government using its economic power to aid the public and ensure that a greater portion of society benefits. The same goes for the Social Justice aspect of Modern Liberalism

Defining: Mixed Economy What was that system mentioned earlier? Oh yeah, Mixed Economy. Pretty much, a mixed economy is this; as mentioned before, the government uses its control over the economy to better support the people of society, rather than letting the rich get richer and the poor get poorer. For example, here in Canada we have a mixed economy, and we also see things here like free healthcare and E.I., which are both good examples of economy mixed government to help the whole community (specifically those who can’t help themselves), which is exactly what Modern Liberalism is all about. The government pulls this off through increased taxation, which many people do not like.

Presenting: Individualism

Individualism . Individualism is exactly the way it sounds….focused on the individual rather than the collective. Things like Liberties and Freedoms such as Individual Rights and freedoms came about from this ideology. It is the counterpart of Collectivism

Conservatism . Conservatism is an ideology which values tradition; “it works, it has worked, why should it be changed?” is typically the mindset of a conservative. Conservatism strives to preserve tradition and the way society works as is. If change is believed to be necessary, it is done very gradually over time. “The essence of This recycling sign is a good conservative is its being symbol of conservatism; a anchored in the divine conservative recycles old ideas order of things” - Frans and values Von Paper

Individualism: Development Over the Years . Here’s the crash-course: Starting way back in medieval times, with thinkers such as Voltaire and Rousseau who both had the idea of the individual being the important one in society. This thought sort of snowballed through the years, as people started to become more familiar with their philosophies (in short, private property, rule of law, etc.). Eventually, these ideas were put into action and fast forward to 1215, and the Magna Carta was signed, stating that the monarch no longer had absolute power, and that the people had the right to govern themselves. From that point onward, many revolutionaries expanded on these ideas, and more additions to idea of individualism came about; especially during the American revolution. At the end of this famous war, the Declaration of Independence was signed, stating that people had the right to choose who they were governed by. This was another major development, and fast forward even further, to the development of Liberalism, where mixed ideas of Individualism and collectivism were a thing.

Conservatism and Classical Liberalism Conservatism: Classical Liberalism: A political/economic ideology in which a A political ideology and a branch of liberalism country’s trade and industry are controlled by a which advocates civil liberties under the rule of free market system; private ownership drives law, with an emphasis on economic freedom. the economy. A political leader who was A philosophe that can be related to conservative was Stephen Harper classical Liberalism is Jean-Jacques Rousseau

Fascism . Fascism is the extreme form of conservatism, where it is through any means necessary, including violence, to restore order and familiarity to society. Fascism mostly refers to the distinct ultranationalism and the belief that one group is superior to another. This type of society is very Authoritarian and strives for social organization and uniformity.

The Development of Fascism . It was founded during the first World War by As it was just stated, Hitler is another Italian syndicates who used left-wing political Fascist leader from the past. He managed tactics to employ right-wing ideologies. Soon to single-handedly convince all of after, this was taken further by a man named Germany that they were the superior race, Benito Mussolini, who became the fascist dictator and used that to start World War II of Italy in 1925. When WWII started, fascism through Ultranationalism. (In this case, by quickly became widespread across Germany, and proxy Nazi Germany a fascist nation). eventually Mussolini allied with Hitler, relying on him to prop up his leadership. This worked….until the end of the second World War, where he was executed. The radical use of fascism during WWII really expanded the ideology and some nations even adopted fascism after WWII, such as (rumored) Rwanda in 1994 due to German forces being there and leaving one race with the idea that they were superior to the other.

Fascism Today… _ It still exists... There are still some fascist nations out there. These nations include, but are not limited to: Brazil, Japan, Germany, Italy, and Austria. In other words, some of the countries in Europe and some in South America are still fascist

That’s Pretty Much All There Is To It Today’s ideologies are very diverse, and who knows if there are more to come. There have been a lot of mistakes made in each ideology in the past, but each has something to offer, if used right.