Socialism is a political and economic theory based on the ideas of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, which seeks to establish class equality and public ownership of the means of production. In the socialist system, production is carried out i

The author’s desire to offer the Russian reader a textbook on socialism was caused by the fact that this kind is practically absent in the domestic book market. A significant number of publications of works of recognized theorists of the socialist movement cannot fully satisfy the need for a training manual. In the last 20 years, the publications that have appeared in the last 20 years, devoted to criticism of the theory and practice of socialism, unfortunately, are mostly very biased, erroneous, often deliberately distorted, at best - extremely superficial ideas about socialist theory and history of socialist movements. The author hopes that this manual will be useful for both supporters and opponents of socialism. The first to finally give the opportunity to get acquainted with the systematic presentation of the foundations of socialism in their modern sense, the second - the opportunity to understand for what, in fact, they oppose. The book is intended for students, graduate students, teachers of social sciences, for those who independently study socialist theory, as well as for all those interested in the problems of socialism