Socialism – how much is in that Word...!?

Introduction. In the current conditions of the crisis of capitalism and liberal values, it is steadily increasing the relevance of the problem of choosing the way of development of society is steadily increasing. The aim of the paper is to analyze the ideas of Marxism and to identify the possibilities of their application for building a new model of development of modern society. Methodology and sources. The research is based on the concept of socialism developed by K. Marx and F. Engels and developed in the works of V. I. Lenin and G. V. Plekhanov. The analysis of Marxist classics' views on socialism and communism is carried out by means of general philosophical dialectical methodology, supplemented by a synergetic approach with the application of ideas of psychology and ethology. Results and discussion. The authors demonstrated the internal contradictions and theoretical nature of the abstract ideas of communism and socialism of Marx and Engels. There were the highlighted bases of the historical process of transition from capitalism to communism through socialism. Also there were considered the ways of solving the problems of capitalism and the return of human and society to the social essence. Among the measures necessary for the transition to socialism, the founders of Marxism highlight human emancipation, the development of productive forces, the destruction of competition, the abolition of private property in the long term. According to K. Marx and F. Engels, building of communism requires a gradual transformation of social relations and, consequently, of a person oneself by means of increasing the level of welfare, introducing universal education and employment of the poor. From the position of dialectics and synergetics, the transition to socialism is described as a ‘synthesis’ of relations of equality in primitive society (‘thesis’) and relations of inequality under capitalism (‘antithesis’). In this synthesis, biotic relations based on the natural instinct of dominance are replaced by genuinely social relations organized on the basis of reason and culture. Conclusion. The transition from capitalism to socialism requires creation of material prerequisites and a high level of human cultural development for the emergence of new social relations based on the principles of co-operation, corresponding to the essence of the social.