User:Romarioquijano/sandbox

Theory and Rationale
Authoritarian socialism is a political-economic system that can be generally described as socialist but rejects the liberal democratic concepts of multi-party politics, freedom of assembly, private property, habeas corpus, and freedom of expression. Other features that are common to modern authoritarian socialist states (starting in the 20th century) include an emphasis on heavy industry for development, a single-party system to propel the goals of the state forward, the extensive use of propaganda to do the same, and more.

Formation of Industry
Often, as authoritarian powers enforce socialist economics, the process goes hand in hand with supporting the growth of heavy industry as a means of reaching industrialization (as can be seen with Joseph Stalin's control of the Soviet Union). Stalin's goals brought about a rapid industrialization of the Soviet economy that increased the urban population up by another 30 million people (by 1930) and the production of automobiles to 200,000 per year by 1940. Outside of the Soviet Union, two rising global participants of the early 20th century were the young states of Germany and Italy. Although many of the policies put in place by Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini (who formed these cults of personality but did not form authoritarian socialist regimes) were contradictory and poorly understood, there were a few centrally planned work projects under their states. The Reichsautobahn in Germany was an example of this. The construction of the autobahns and industries surrounding highway construction elevated the percentage of employed Germans throughout the construction. In Fascist Italy, projects like the Battle for Grain, Battle for Land are public work projects that Communists and Socialist would traditionally support. However, the Italian Fascist regime was not in favor of having the economy under full control of the state, rather, Benito Mussolini chose to link private businesses and the state to organize economic policies. This was more in line with corporatist economic policies. Authoritarian socialist regimes and Fascist regimes differ in that the latter shifts a focus on class conflict to a focus on conflict between nations and races.

Aside from Russia and a number of former Eastern Bloc members, many states with authoritarian socialist regimes are not categorized as industrialized. A Marxist societal analysis puts forth that the process of industrialization in the 19th century placed the current metropoles in their current positions of power. In theory, industrialization should allow the regime of non-metropoles to raise the standard of living and competitiveness of their populations to be on economic par with these metropoles.

Sing-Party System
Authoritarian States often oppose the multi-party system to instill power of the government into a single party that could be led by a single head of state. The rationale behind this being that: 1) elites have the time and resources to enforce Socialist theory, because 2) in this Socialist state, the interests of the people are represented by the party or head of the party. Hal Draper referred to this as "socialism-from-above". Socialism from above, according to Hal Draper, comes in "six strains" or forms that rationalize and require an elite group at the top of a socialist system. This differs from a Marxist perspective that would advocate for socialism-from-below (a more pure and democratically run form of Socialism). Outside of Europe, Vietnam, Mozambique, and Eritrea stand as examples of states that were socialist and ruled by a single-party at some point in the 20th century. In Mozambique, the single-state rule of FRELIMO occurred while the state was still socialist right after Portuguese rule was ending in 1975. Elsewhere in Africa, Eritrea is another example of single-party rule implementing a socialist agenda. The ruling party emerging in 1970 was the EPLF (Eritrean People's Liberation Front), and with control of the state, the EPLF began work on socialist ideals such as broadening women's rights and expanding education. This, again, occurred without opposition voices being given the right to be heard. In Vietnam, the Communist party considers itself to be in transition to socialism and also the "vanguard of the working people and the whole nation. "

Propaganda
Departments of propaganda are not at all rare in these regimes. The extensive use of propaganda is spills into art, cinema, posters, newspapers, books, etc. In the Soviet Union, a byproduct of strict censorship was the blossoming of Russian science fiction and fantasy as well as Socialist Realism. In Latin America, Che Guevara represented and acted on the idea that Socialism was an international struggle by operating Radio Rebelde and having his station transmitted from Cuba to as far North as Washington D.C..