**Authoritarian Socialism** or **State Socialism** refers to an effort
to build a socialist society that differs from libertarian socialists on
four main areas:

  - The [state's](State_\(Polity\) "wikilink") role in history is viewed
    completely differently. For authoritarian socialists, the state was
    a product of [class divisions](Class "wikilink") which emerged
    alongside the development of [agriculture](agriculture "wikilink")
    and cannot be gotten rid of in the short run without having huge
    side effects which would destroy socialism. Whereas libertarian
    socialists view the state as an independent entity that accumulates
    power on its own will and predates class.
  - Decisions are not to be made via popular assemblies and regional
    confederations, but instead through a one-party dictatorship with
    little to no input from the general public. According to
    authoritarian socialists, this is necessary to maintain the
    organizational efficiency necessary to defend socialism from
    [counter-revolutionaries](Counter-Revolution "wikilink") and
    warmongering capitalists.
  - Industry is to be [nationalized](Nationalization "wikilink") and
    operated according to the will of the state. Industry may have some
    degree of [workers'
    self-management](Workers'_Self-Management "wikilink"), as in
    [Yugoslavia](Federal_Socialist_Republic_of_Yugoslavia "wikilink").
    This is done in order to ensure the most effective use of resources
    towards building socialism.
  - Dissent is to be harshly punished in order to create a stable and
    harmonious nation.

## History

## Schools of Thought

## Applications

It is no secrete that authoritarian socialism has been tried many more
times and on much larger scales than libertarian socialism, these are
the results of those experiments:

### Afghanistan

### Albania

### Algeria

### Angola

### Bangladesh

### Benin

### Burkina Faso

### Bulgaria

### Burma

### Cambodia

### Cape Verde

### China

### Congo

### Cuba

### Czechoslovakia

### East Germany

### Egypt

### Ethiopia

### Grenada

### Guyana

### Hungary

### India

### Iraq

### Laos

### Libya

### Madagascar

### Mongolia

### Mozambique

### Nepal

### Nicaragua

### North Korea

### Poland

### Portugal

### Romania

### Seychelles

### Somalia

### South Yemen

### Sri Lanka

### Sudan

### Syria

### Tanzania

### USSR

### Vietnam

### Yugoslavia

## Criticism

The main criticism of authoritarian socialism advanced by [libertarian
socialists](Libertarian_Socialism "wikilink") are:

  - The authoritarian socialist conception of the state is based on
    outdated or misleading historical data. More recent evidence shows
    that the state emerged long before class divisions, and is usually
    based on factors such as [religious](Religion "wikilink")
    worship.\[1\]\[2\]\[3\]
  - If decision-making power is not distributed among the population, it
    will create a small elite isolated from the consequences of their
    actions who will quickly become consumed by greed and paranoia,
    violently maintaining their control over the population and
    ultimately reinstating [capitalism](capitalism "wikilink") to ensure
    their own wealth and power.\[4\]
  - The belief that hierarchical organizations are more efficient that
    non-hierarchical ones is conflicting with existing evidence\[5\],
    especially within the military, where decentralized forces
    frequently defeat centralized ones despite having access to inferior
    equipment, knowledge and army size.\[6\]
  - Nationalization of industry or limited workers' self-management only
    creates a bitter and [alienated](Alienation "wikilink") workforce,
    who may begin to sympathize strongly with [far-right
    anti-communist](Fascism "wikilink") ideas.\[7\]

## References

<references />

1.  [Pierre Clastres](Pierre_Clastres "wikilink") (1974) [Society
    Against The State](Society_Against_The_State "wikilink")
2.  [David Graeber](David_Graeber "wikilink") (2011) [Debt: The First
    5000 Years](Debt:_The_First_5000_Years "wikilink")
3.  [Peter Gelderloos](Peter_Gelderloos "wikilink") (2017) [Worshiping
    Power: An Anarchist View of Early State
    Formation](Worshiping_Power:_An_Anarchist_View_of_Early_State_Formation "wikilink")
4.  [Mikhail Bakunin](Mikhail_Bakunin "wikilink") (1873) [Statism and
    Anarchy](Statism_and_Anarchy "wikilink")
5.  [Kevin Carson](Kevin_Carson "wikilink") (2008) [Organization Theory:
    A Libertarian
    Perspective](Organization_Theory:_A_Libertarian_Perspective "wikilink")
6.  [Peter Gelderloos](Peter_Gelderloos "wikilink") (2010) [Anarchy
    Works](Anarchy_Works "wikilink")
7.  [Immanuel Ness](Immanuel_Ness "wikilink") (2010) [Ours to Master and
    to Own: Workers' Control from the Commune to the
    Present](Ours_to_Master_and_to_Own:_Workers'_Control_from_the_Commune_to_the_Present "wikilink")
    - Part III: Goran Music - Yugoslavia: Workers’ Self-Management as
    State Paradigm