Socialism

Socialism, Utopian and Scientific is a political science classic that needs no preface. It ranks with the Communist Manifesto as one of the indispensable books for anyone desiring to understand the modern socialist movement.

It has been translated into every language where capitalism prevails, and its circulation is more rapid than ever before. The book explains the differences between utopian socialism and scientific socialism, which Marxism considers itself to embody. Whereas utopian socialism is idealist, reflects the personal opinions of the authors, and claims that society can be adapted based on these opinions, scientific socialism derives itself from reality. It focuses on the materialist conception of history, which is based on an analysis of history and concludes that communism naturally follows capitalism.

Engels begins the book by chronicling the thought of utopian socialists, starting with Saint-Simon, and then proceeds to Fourier and Robert Owen. In Chapter Two, he summarises dialectics and chronicles thought from the ancient Greeks to Hegel. Chapter Three summarises dialectics in relation to economic and social struggles, essentially echoing the words of Marx.