Distinguish between fundamentalist socialism and revisionist socialism. (Jan 03)
Fundamentalist socialism views capitalism as fundamentally flawed and so is distinguished by its desire to abolish and replace capitalism. It usually practices the politics of ownership, in that it links the defects of capitalism to private property and defines socialism essentially in terms of the common ownership. The Marxist or communist tradition is the clearest example of fundamentalist socialism.

Revisionist socialism practices an accommodations strategy, in that it seeks to reform or tame capitalism rather than abolish it. It thus seeks to reconcile socialism with capitalism. It is usually associated with the politics of social justice, the quest for equality or, in practice, the narrowing of social inequalities through welfare and redistribution. Social democracy is the main example of revisionist socialism.

In some cases, the fundamentalist/revisionist distinction was understood entirely in terms of conflict between revolutionary socialists and evolutionary socialists. Although the two sets of distinctions are not entirely unrelated, and students who pointed this out would have gained credit, the fundamentalist/revolutionary distinction is primarily about 'ends' and the revolutionary/evolutionary distinction is primarily about 'means'. Sound responses pointed out that fundamentalist socialists aim to abolish and replace capitalism, whereas revisionist socialists aim to reform or 'humanise' capitalism. Strong responses recognised that this distinction is linked to both to contrasting interpretations of capitalism (whether it is irredeemable or redeemable) and to contrasting models of socialist (whether socialism is defined by collective or state ownership or by progress towards equality and social