As per Dr. B.
R. Ambedkar, the concept of socialism is based on the principles of justice, liberty, equality and fraternity. It is his thought that socialism can be achieved by State control over land, industries, religions, caste and through an elaborate scheme of constitutional method. As per him, caste consciousness hampers economic progress, so he suggested that the State should redistribute the land to poor farmers and it was his demand that the state should abolish the Zamindari system.
In this paper/article an attempt is being made to analyze his approach towards the ‘State Socialism’.IntroductionThere are several types of socialism such as Utopian Socialism, Scientific or Marxian Socialism, Fabians Socialism, Syndicalist Socialism, Guild Socialism, Democratic socialism, Gandhian Socialism, State Socialism etc. State Socialism or Collective Socialism arose as a reaction against extreme individualism of the 19th century. The principles of the State Socialism is found in the works of Eduard Bernstein in Germany, Jean Juarez in France, Karl Branting in Sweden, Eduard in Belgium and Dr. B.
R.Ambedkar in India.The State Socialism does not want to abolish the State but it stands for removing the evils of capitalist discrimination and inequality. State Socialism stands for the idea of a welfare State. State Socialists believe that the State alone can remove exploitation and promote general welfare, all the means of production should be nationalized, the worker should be given equal pay for equal work and the workers or depressed classes should enjoy liberty and equality in political, social and economic spheres.
State Socialism- Dr. Ambedkar’s TheoryThe theory of State socialism in India has been developed by the contributions of Dr. B.R.
Ambedkar. He submitted a memorandum entitled “State and Minorities? to the Constituent Assembly on behalf of the All India Scheduled Castes Federation in the year 1946. In the said memorandum he pointed out that born or naturalized citizens of India should be treated equally. Any privileges or extra privilege arising out of rank, birth, person, family, religion or religious usage should be abolished.
All citizens of India without any discrimination with respect to caste, creed, religion, race, birth etc. should be treated equally before law and with equal protection from the law of the land. The State should play a crucial role to protect the fundamental rights of Indian citizens. No religion is to be State religion.All citizens should have rights to reside in any part of the territory of India.
The citizenship certificate ought to be provided by the State. Every citizens should have right to cast vote. The State should give guarantee of liberty to every Indian citizen without discriminations on the basis of caste, creed, religion etc. Right to religious association of the citizens should be given by the State.
Thus it is seen from the above that one man one value is the principle of Dr. Ambedkar?s socialism. No citizen shall be disqualified on the basis of birth or race. All citizens shall have equal access to all institutions, conveniences and amenities maintained by State machinery.
State Socialism should be prescribed by the law of the Constitution.The right of a citizen to vote shall not be denied on any ground other than immaturity, imprisonment and/or insanity. No law shall be made abridging the freedom of speech, the freedom of press, form of association and assembly except for consideration of public order and morality. State shall guarantee to every Indian citizen liberty of conscience and free exercise including right to worship, right to form of religious association and its spread. State shall not recognize any religion as State religion. Every religious association shall be free from State religion.
In his Memorandum, ‘State and Minorities’, Dr. Ambedkar propagated that the judicial power of the State shall be vested in the Supreme Court of India.The fundamental rights of Indian citizens are justifiable by the court of law. The Supreme Court ought to be made the special guardian of the rights, guaranteed by the Constitution.
Judicial protection of the people should be given by the Constitution against executive and legislative tyrannies. In this connection the High Court and Supreme Court shall have the right to writs such as Habeas Corpus, Quo Warranto, Prohibition, Certiorari and Mandamus.State Socialism vis-à-vis-DemocracyAccording to Dr. Ambedkar, for the sake of an individual’s freedom, dictatorship should be abolished and it is essential to infuse the Parliamentarian Democracy Concept through proper way. Thus, Dr. Ambedkar?s State Socialism is based on parliamentary democracy.
To establish State Socialism, totalitarianism, tyranny and dictatorship should be abolished from the society. As per Dr. Ambedkar, to establish socialism, Parliamentary Democracy ought to be retained and Dictatorship ought to be ousted. To him, Political Democracy rests on the four pillars which may be set out in the following terms:1) The individual is an end in himself. 2) The individual has certain inalienable rights which must be guaranteed to him by the Constitution. 3) The individual shall not be required to relinquish any of his constitutional rights as a condition precedent to the receipt of a privilege.
4) The State shall not delegate powers to private persons to govern others.This great reformer’s socialism is based on “a form and method of government whereby revolutionary changes in the economics and social life of the people are brought about without bloodshed”. Parliamentary Democracies will assure liberty, equality and fraternity. In his article entitled on “Failure of Parliamentary Democracy Will Result in Rebellion, Anarchy and Communism” he cautioned that “If Parliamentary Democracy fails in this country, the only result will be rebellion, anarchy and communism”. Dr.
Ambedkar, in his work “Annihilation of Caste” pointed out that “Make every man and woman free from the thralldom of the Shastras, cleanse their minds of the pernicious notions founded on the Shastras, and he or she will inter-dine and inter marry without your telling him or her to so”.Ambedkar’s Socialism- a safeguard for the down trodden.Indian society is based on caste and sub-castes. Poverty is an evil system embedded in the Indian society. Ambedkar?s idea of socialism attacked on poverty because poverty is responsible for diseased bodies and frustrated lives.
To him, poverty and socialism cannot co-exist. For this reason, he pointed out in his memorandum “States and Minorities” that the Scheduled Castes people should enjoy the reservation seats in legislatures, executives, local bodies, in the Union Services and in the Municipal and local Board Services, in the States and group Services in order to uplift the Depressed Classes. To him, the State ought to take greater responsibilities for the socio-economic and political upliftment of the down trodden classes. To him, adequate opportunities shall be given to all.The aims and objectives of his State Socialism are to remove the extreme inequalities and evils of castes system, from the society. The concept of State Socialism is based on the principles of justice.
To him, men are different from each other due to their birth, mental ability and faculty, hereditary and social atmosphere, but they should enjoy equal opportunities for their upliftment. The individual has the right to economic development from both public and private enterprises under the guidance of the State control. The individual ought to enjoy economic liberty under the State Control. The state should take initiative for maintaining the trinity principles of liberty, equality and fraternity.
He advocated the inter-caste marriage, inter-dining system to eradicate discrimination from Hindu society and he embraced Buddhism. Indian society is a caste based society.Castes and sub-castes system prevailing in the Hindu society is anti-democratic and is against the humanity. In his essay entitled “Philosophy of Hinduism” Dr. Ambedkar in relation to fraternity asserted, “Fraternity is another name for fellow feeling”. In his another essay “The Hindu Social Order: Its Essential Principle” he has pointed out that the concept of fraternity as one of key essential element of a just society.
In this essay he said, “fraternity is the name for the disposition of an individual to treat as the object of reference and love and the desire to be is unity with the fellow beings”. To him, collective liberty is “Real Liberty”.Marxian Socialism versus Ambedkarite SocialismThe Scientific Socialism propounded by Karl Marx (1818-1883) is based on the class-struggle. The State Socialism in India propounded by Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar (1891-1956) is based on peaceful and Constitutional method of law.
He did not believe in class struggle. Both were very much concerned about the problems of the exploitation of the humanity. Karl Marx was very much concerned about the problems of the proletariat class in European countries. On the other hand, Bharat Ratna Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar was very much concerned about the problems of the down-trodden classes in India.
In India, downtrodden classes are proletariat community. He had better experience regarding the depressed classes’ plight because he faced the evils of caste system for his every step in life. Karl Marx’s conception of socialism is based on Stateless society because he wanted to abolish the State considering it to be an instrument of exploitation.As per Karl Marx, the State will wither away.
Dr. Ambedkar?s conception of socialism is based on the State because he does not recognize the abolition of State. To him, the public and private enterprises should be controlled by the State. According to Karl Marx, “The history of all hitherto existing society is the history of class struggle”.
Indian society, too, is also basically a caste based society. Indian history is obviously the history of caste and communal struggle. Unfair and injustice practices among the four Varnas of Hindu society that had been existing in Indian society since the very beginning. According to Dr.
Ambedkar, the problem of the Scheduled Castes or Depressed Classes is not only political but also economical.The caste system of Hindu society creates the sense of superiority and inferiority in relation between man and man. The problem of the down-trodden classes is basically a social problem rather than a political one. Self-respect and self-dependence is the motto of Dr. Ambedkar?s conception of class-struggle.
According to Marx, the proletariat must first of all acquire political supremacy. Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar suggested the same that the Scheduled Castes must first acquire the political power. According to Marx, religion is opium. He does not believed in any religion. Dr.
Ambedkar does not believe in Hindu religion.In 1935, he stated that he will not die as a Hindu. He denounced Hinduism and embraced Buddhism because as per him , the Buddhism is basically rational, based on liberty, equality and fraternity. As a Buddhist, Dr. Ambedkar believed in atheism.
Karl Marx also believed in atheism. Buddhism is based on rationality and morality. Indian society is characterized as a caste-economy because economic system had been dominated by the Brahmin classes.
