SOCIALISMS Synonyms

• Soviet communism

• a political theory that the people should own the means of production

• a form of socialism that abolishes private ownership

• a political theory favoring collectivism in a classless society

• the doctrine of the equality of mankind and the desirability of political and economic and social equality

• the ideology of the political left; belief in or support of the tenets of the political left

• the political and economic theories of Lenin which provided the guiding doctrine of the Soviet Union; the modification of Marxism by Lenin stressed that imperialism is the highest form of capitalism (which shifts the struggle from developed to underdeveloped countries)

• the economic and political theories of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels that hold that human actions and institutions are economically determined and that class struggle is needed to create historical change and that capitalism will ultimately be superseded by communism

• the political orientation of those who favor progress toward better conditions in government and society

• the political orientation of those who favor revolutionary change in government and society

• an economic system based on state ownership of capital