In consideration of the goals and purposes that drive liberal thought, especially in regards to Classical Liberalism, Socialism serves as a reorganization of society in an attempt to better serve humanity as a whole, in defiance of a system that serves to benefit an elite few. Karl Marx designs the driving force behind such ideals, in his work Contributions to the Critique of Political Economy, 1859, with his declaration that “At a certain stage of their development, the material productive forces of society come in conflict with the existing relations of production…Then begins an epoch of social revolution” (Scientific Socialism 4).

Decades of the exploitation of women as prostitutes, the inhumane use of child labor, poor working conditions, and unsanitary living conditions, had left society in a state of disrepair, with only the elite capitalists serving to benefit from the increased hard work of the disparaged people. Louis Blanc addressed the harsh effects of industrialization on society in his essay The Organisation of Labour, 1840, stating that “A systematic lowering of wages resulting in the elimination of a certain number of laborers is the inevitable effect of free competition…” (Blanc 1). This, along with his assertion that government ought to intervene and establish “social workshops in the most important branches of national industry”, served to promote the very ideals of Socialism. In order to reestablish society in a way that served to benefit all, rather than certain individuals who had risen to great socio-economic power through greedy efforts of capitalist industrialism, certain liberties, both natural and established, and primarily those founded in Classical Liberalism, would need to be secured and uplifted by the government, in a limited but constructive method.

In modern American society, we see these methods enacted in certain institutions and practices such as Social Security and Medicare, and protected by measures of military and local law enforcement agencies. Our roads, public libraries, public school systems, and other national and state funded agencies that serve to benefit society as a whole, are all rooted in socialist ideals. Government subsidies, such as food stamps and Pell Grants, all serve to enhance the lives of those who have suffered in the face of capitalist greed and industrialism, and who otherwise couldn’t afford the basic needs of life.

It’s somewhat difficult to delineate socialism and democracy, as there’s a bit of a Venn Diagram nature to the entire approach. When you consider socialism as effected in places like Denmark, where society flourishes in the measure of health and happiness, not monetary gain, versus socialism as failed in the USSR and China, where dictatorship and greed led to unequal distribution of economic and social value, and therefore the demise of the middle and lower classes, the concept of democracy is the applied balancing factor.

When we compare Classical Liberalism, and Adam Smith’s ideals of free-market enterprise, against the ideals founded in socialism, it’s much easier to delineate the two, based on the use of democratic thought. Classical Liberalism sought to establish economic and social rights for the individual, in protest of governmental influence. Socialism seeks to establish economic and social rights for all of society, from a less self-interested and greed based method, by use of directed governmental influence and means. Through realized democracy, and especially with consideration of the modern socialist concepts of elected officials and representatives, the ideals founded in Classical Liberalism are met, protected, and enforced, but in a more communal sense, one that stands in opposition of the capitalist nature of modern society.