Is the "Socialism" policy's description accurate?

[Awhaiti Kaiatu]

So I received the 'socialism' policy but noticed something in it's description - it says that "industry is owned and run by the government in a centrally planned economy"

My understanding of socialism (along-side actual definitions of socialism) contradicts this description, rather stating that socialism is the workers themselves who own their industries (and communism is a form of socialism); that the game's definition might rather be closer to 'state-capitalism' or 'state-corporatism' or, better still, 'nationalised industry'.



Not looking to debate theory, just wondering everyone's thoughts on it's accuracy

(Also, are there more policies for communism and anarchism?)

Lemme know if this is the wrong board

[Frisbeeteria]

Lemme know if this is the wrong board

Wrong board. Moved to Got Issues.

[Fauxia]

Lemme know if this is the wrong board

Wrong board. Moved to Got Issues.

It honestly sounds more like general, since the question is basically about the definition of socialism.

Anyway, people have fifteen billion definitions for "socialism". This one is what the editors chose, probably for ease more than anything else. It’s not a complex, thought-out philosophical definition of the theory of socialism, just a variable assigned to a nation when a statistic is at a certain point.

[TalAkMaChen]

So I received the 'socialism' policy but noticed something in it's description - it says that "industry is owned and run by the government in a centrally planned economy"

My understanding of socialism (along-side actual definitions of socialism) contradicts this description, rather stating that socialism is the workers themselves who own their industries (and communism is a form of socialism); that the game's definition might rather be closer to 'state-capitalism' or 'state-corporatism' or, better still, 'nationalised industry'.



Not looking to debate theory, just wondering everyone's thoughts on it's accuracy

For the first part, see Fauxia's reply.

(Also, are there more policies for communism and anarchism?)

Anarchy itself is not a policy, but a classification of your nation, similar to "Scandinavian Liberal Paradise" which you currently have. There are some more Socialism-related policies, the main one would be AI Planning, where not the "state" but an AI does the planning of the centrally planned economy -- which is the main focus of Socialism vs. Capitalism in NS. Capitalism has private industries, Socialism has (almost) no private industries. Some issues allow to introduce some minor privatised industries, while the majority remains state-owned, though.
Then, there is autarky as policy, but you can get/keep that at both Socialism and Capitalism. Same for Slavery.

[Candlewhisper Archive]

Anyway, people have fifteen billion definitions for "socialism". This one is what the editors chose, probably for ease more than anything else.

We editors didn't choose the policy banner descriptions, though we've been able to get them changed on occasion.

The socialism one is activated simply by the banning of capitalism, so you've basically got a binary state in the game - capitalism or socialism. I'd agree that the definitions are very approximate approximations, but I think people get the gist sufficiently that there's no need for a change.

[Strahcoin]

So I received the 'socialism' policy but noticed something in it's description - it says that "industry is owned and run by the government in a centrally planned economy"

My understanding of socialism (along-side actual definitions of socialism) contradicts this description, rather stating that socialism is the workers themselves who own their industries (and communism is a form of socialism); that the game's definition might rather be closer to 'state-capitalism' or 'state-corporatism' or, better still, 'nationalised industry'.



Not looking to debate theory, just wondering everyone's thoughts on it's accuracy

(Also, are there more policies for communism and anarchism?)

Lemme know if this is the wrong board

According to Merriham Webster, socialism is:

1. any of various economic and political theories advocating collective or governmental ownership and administration of the means of production and distribution of goods
2. 1. a system of society or group living in which there is no private property
   2. a system or condition of society in which the means of production are owned and controlled by the state
3. a stage of society in Marxist theory transitional between capitalism and communism and distinguished by unequal distribution of goods and pay according to work done

So, the NS policy primarily focuses on definition 2b. The "workers own and manage the industries" falls more closely under the definition of syndicalism (which one may argue is a form of socialism).