Labourism and Socialism

Abstract

Socialism only developed as a coherent ideology in the nineteenth century, although forerunners can be identified earlier. Essentially, socialism involved a reaction against, and a radical alternative to, industrial capitalism. In terms of class interests, socialism can be seen as the political ideology of the new urban working class, effectively created by industrialisation, just as conservatism was, initially, the ideology of the landed interest and liberalism the ideology of the bourgeoisie, or manufacturing interest. While conservatism involved a defence of the status quo or a return to the recent past, and liberalism provided a justification and support for an ongoing industrial transformation, socialism developed as a radical or revolutionary ideology requiring a fundamental transformation of existing society, and its underlying assumptions and values.