Why Did Competing Ideologies Emerge?
- Imagine living in a time when everything around you is changing: new machines, new jobs, new cities, new social classes. That’s the nineteenth century.
- With society flipping upside down, people started asking: “How should society work?”
- And because everyone had different experiences: rich, poor, traditional, modern, they came up with different answers.
- That’s how we ended up with liberalism, conservatism, socialism, Marxism, fascism, and the rest.
- Think of it like a giant political debate that has lasted 200 years.
1. Liberalism: “Give people rights and let them choose their leaders.”
- What liberals wanted
- Governments chosen by elections, not birthright.
- Voting rights for all adults (eventually).
- Competing political parties, so people had real choices.
- Governments that serve for a limited time, then must face voters again.
- Protection of individual rights: free speech, religious freedom, right to join unions.
- A capitalist economy where people own property and businesses.
- Free trade (few tariffs, open markets).
- Why it emerged
- Middle-class people (merchants, lawyers, factory owners) were gaining wealth but had no political power.
- Absolute monarchies looked outdated.
- Revolutions showed that people could overthrow unfair rulers.
- American Revolution (1776): Created a government based on elected representatives and individual rights.
- French Declaration of the Rights of Man (1789): A liberal document claiming “men are born free and equal.”
- British Reform Acts of 1832, 1867, 1884: Expanded voting rights - a huge win for liberal ideas.
- Liberalism is basically, “No kings, no dictators, let people vote, protect their rights, and let the economy run freely.”
2. Conservatism: “Slow down. Don’t destroy the traditions that keep society stable.”
- What conservatives believed
- Society works best when traditions and hierarchies are respected.
- Sudden, dramatic change usually leads to disaster.
- Monarchy, Church, army, and family are stabilising forces.
- Authority isn’t automatically bad, it can protect people.
- Change should be gradual, not revolutionary.
- Why it emerged
- People saw the French Revolution turn violent very quickly.
- Elites were terrified of losing their privileges.
- Many ordinary people simply valued stability.
- Edmund Burke's criticism of the French Revolution: He warned that rapid change leads to chaos and was proven right when the Revolution turned violent.
- Congress of Vienna (1815): European leaders restored monarchies after Napoleon’s defeat to “put things back in order.”
- British Conservatives in the 1800s: Supported gradual reform, not radical revolution.
- Conservatism says, “Don’t burn the house down to fix a broken door.”
3. Socialism: “The Industrial Revolution is making life unfair. We need to fix that.”
- When industrial cities exploded in the 1800s, workers lived in horrible conditions: long hours, unsafe factories, tiny wages. Socialism grew as a response.
- What socialists believed
- Wealth shouldn’t be concentrated in a few hands.
- The state should step in to protect workers.
- Society should move toward more equal ownership of land and industry.
- Welfare systems (healthcare, housing, pensions) help create fairness.
- Why it emerged
- The new factory system created a huge gap between owners and workers.
- Liberalism helped with political rights, but not economic suffering.
- Workers wanted a movement that addressed poverty, not just voting.
- Robert Owen’s New Lanark Mills (Scotland): A model socialist community with education, good housing, and shorter hours.
- Trade Union Movement (1800s): Workers organised for better pay and safety - key socialist goals.
- German Social Democratic Party (SPD): One of the first major socialist parties in Europe.
- Socialism says, “It’s unfair for a few people to get rich while everyone else struggles just to survive.”
4. Marxism: “Capitalism can’t be fixed. It must be overthrown.”
- Marx and Engels took socialism and pushed it into a full theory of revolution.
- Their argument in a nutshell
- History is a fight between classes.
- Under capitalism, workers are exploited.
- Eventually, workers will rebel and overthrow the bourgeoisie.
- They will create a workers’ state.
- Eventually, this evolves into communism: a classless society.
- Why Marxism caught on
- Many countries had extreme inequality.
- Gradual reforms felt too slow or weak.
- Marx offered a big, dramatic solution.
- The Communist Manifesto (1848): Marx and Engels lay out the argument for a workers’ revolution.
- The 1871 Paris Commune: A short-lived workers’ government that Marx praised as a glimpse of future revolution.
- Russian Revolution (1917 - first phase): Initially similar to Marx’s prediction of overthrowing monarchy and capitalism.
- Marxism is socialism with a revolution built in.
5. Communism: “The end goal of Marxism.”
- What communism claims to want
- No private property.
- No classes.
- A society where everyone works for the common good.
- What happened in reality
- Russia’s 1917 revolution replaced the Tsar with a one-party state.
- Lenin and Stalin used strict control to hold power.
- Other communist states (China, Cuba) followed similar patterns.
- Bolshevik Revolution (Russia, 1917): First attempt to create a Marxist-based government.
- USSR under Lenin: Nationalised land, banks, and major industries.
- China under Mao (from 1949): Land redistribution and state-led industrialisation.
- In theory, communism is paradise.
- In practice… the government didn’t wither away, it got stronger.
6. Democratic Socialism:“Let’s make society fairer, but do it through democracy.”
- What it stands for
- Change through elections, not revolution.
- Strong welfare systems to reduce inequality.
- Public services like healthcare, education, unemployment benefits.
- Still keeps democracy and often some capitalism.
- Post-war Scandinavia: Sweden, Norway, Denmark built welfare states with universal healthcare, education, and housing.
- UK Labour Government (1945): Created the NHS and nationalised key industries.
7. Social Darwinism: “Survival of the fittest, but applied horribly to society.”
- What social Darwinists believed
- Strong groups should dominate weaker ones.
- Government shouldn’t help the poor (“it interferes with nature”).
- Some races were “superior” (a racist, pseudoscientific claim).
- Inspired eugenics, forced sterilisation, and racial segregation.
- Why it emerged
- Industrialisation made inequality obvious, and some wanted to justify it.
- Empires wanted excuses for colonising “weaker” peoples.
- Herbert Spencer: Popularised the phrase “survival of the fittest” socially.
- Eugenics Movement: Forced sterilisation in the USA, Canada, Scandinavia.
- Justification for imperialism: European empires used social Darwinist thinking to claim they were “civilising” weaker peoples.
- Social Darwinism is the ideology people used when they wanted to be cruel but still sound scientific.
8. Fascism: “One strong leader, one united nation, total obedience.”
- What fascists believed
- The nation is everything; individuals don’t matter.
- A strong dictator is necessary for unity.
- Violence and war are good for society.
- Democracy is weak.
- Extreme nationalism, often racist.
- State controls the economy (“Corporate State”).
- Why it emerged
- After WWI, people were desperate for stability.
- Economic crisis made radical solutions look appealing.
- Fear of communism pushed people toward strong leaders.
- Mussolini’s Italy (1922–1943): The first fascist regime.
- Nazi Germany: Combined fascism with extreme racism and genocide.
- Franco’s Spain: A conservative-fascist dictatorship after the Spanish Civil War.
- Fascism is basically nationalism on steroids mixed with dictatorship.
So Why Did All These Ideologies Appear at the Same Time?
1. Society was changing too fast.
- Industrialisation turned millions of people’s lives upside down.
2. Old systems didn’t have answers.
- Monarchies and traditions couldn’t cope with urban poverty, mass politics, or global trade.
3. Different groups wanted different things.
- Middle class → political rights (liberalism)
- Working class → economic fairness (socialism)
- Elites → stability (conservatism)
- Radicals → revolution (Marxism, anarchism)
- Nationalists → strength and unity (fascism)
4. Fear and hope shaped politics.
- In good times, people push for freedom.
- In crises, people push for security, sometimes at the cost of freedom.
- These ideologies are basically different answers to the same question
- “How do we fix society?”
- Everyone just had very different ideas about what “fixing” meant.
- Why did industrialisation create both liberal and socialist demands at the same time?
- How is conservatism a reaction rather than an invention?
- Why did Marx argue that capitalism would inevitably collapse?
- What made fascism appealing to some people after World War I?
- How did Social Darwinism try to justify inequality?