The following article does not attempt a comprehensive analysis of what is socialism. He is trying to discard outmoded views and policies that have created problems for the countryвЂ™s progress. In the Soviet Union today, for example, Mikhail Gorbachev is experimenting with various approaches to questions of how socialism develops and how socialist democracy operates. And since the Russian Revolution, there has been a great variety of forms of socialism in different countries, and even in different periods in the same country. However, Marx and Engels never provided a detailed picture, nor did Lenin before the October Revolution of 1917. The problem with such approaches is their stress on finding the вЂњright definitionвЂќ somewhere in the writings of Marx, Engels or Lenin. Still others argue there are no socialist countries in the world today. Others say socialism is simply public ownership of the means of production, and other criteria are irrelevant. Some seek a universal set of principles that вЂњdefineвЂќ socialism, a checklist which determines if a country is вЂњreallyвЂќ socialist. Part of the confusion comes from a tendency in the left to view socialism as an abstract theoretical issue. Many activists are being challenged by developments in these and other countries to rethink their conceptions of socialism. Please credit the Encyclopedia of Anti-Revisionism On-Line as your source, include the url to this work, and note any of the transcribers, editors & proofreaders above.Д®ditorsвЂ™ note: What is socialism? If we are socialists, what are we actually fighting for? This question, long a subject of debate on the left, is receiving even more attention today because of the momentous changes taking place in China and the Soviet Union. You can freely copy, distribute and display this work as well as make derivative and commercial works. Transcription, Editing and Markup: Paul SabaД¬opyright: This work is in the Public Domain under the Creative Commons Common Deed. Richard Fleming Historical Perspective LeninвЂ™s Conception of Socialism: Learning from the early experiences of the worldвЂ™s first socialist revolutionДЇirst Published: Forward, Vol. LeninвЂ™s Conception of Socialism Encyclopedia of Anti-Revisionism On-Line

The goal of socialism is communism