How does the Baha'i faith feel about socialism?

Question

I have gotten to know a fair number of people involved in the Baha'i faith. Many of them are what could be termed liberal internationalists. They are drawn to work for the UN, the World Bank and other international institutions which they see as furthering the goal of a united human race.

I am a socialist. How does the Baha'i faith feel about socialism, not "reformed capitalism" but the socialist goal of worker's democracy, the means of production placed in the hands of the producers? In "Gleanings" somewhere, someone asked Baha'ullah, "Should I join the socialist Party?" and Baha'ullah replied, "The Baha'i faith comprehends all degrees." What does this mean?

Answer 1

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This article is about socialism as an economic system and political philosophy. For socialism as a specific stage of socioeconomic development in Marxist theory, see Socialism (Marxism).

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Socialism is an economic system in which the means of production are publicly or commonly owned and controlled co-operatively, or a political philosophy advocating such a system.[1][2] As a form of social organization, socialism is based on co-operative social relations and self-management; relatively equal power-relations and the reduction or elimination of hierarchy in the management of economic and political affairs.[3][4]



Socialist economies are based upon production for use and the direct allocation of economic inputs to satisfy economic demands and human needs (use value); accounting is based on physical quantities of resources, some physical magnitude, or a direct measure of labor-time.[5][6] Goods and services for consumption are distributed through markets, and distribution of income is based on the principle of individual merit/individual contribution.[7]



As a political movement, socialism includes a diverse array of political philosophies, ranging from reformism to revolutionary socialism. State socialist currents of socialism advocate for the nationalisation of the means of production, distribution and exchange as a strategy for implementing socialism; while social democrats advocate public control of capital within the framework of a market economy. Libertarian socialists and anarchists reject using the state to build socialism, arguing that socialism will, and must, either arise spontaneously or be built from the bottom up utilizing the strategy of dual power. They promote direct worker-ownership of the means of production alternatively through independent syndicates, workplace democracies, or worker cooperatives.



Romans 10:9

SDA

Answer 2

The words are not from Baha'u'llah, but are attributed to Abdu'l-Baha. They have not been historically authenticated: many people reported what Abdu'l-Baha said on various occasions, but most of these reports cannot be substantiated.



Another such report is from Juliet Thompson, in a letter reporting her days with Abdu'l-Baha in Thanon, on Lake Geneva:



"At luncheon one day in Thoron we had a distinguished visitor who asked Abdul-Baha about our economic questions. He said there were many who felt that material problems should be solved first; that, in order to level the way for the spiritual advance, we should first better social conditions, and he spoke of a friend who felt this so strongly that, though connected with the church, he was making it his life work.

"Such people," said Abdul Baha, "are doing the work of true religion."



Then he went on to say that a new order of things must come but it must have a solid foundation, and that no foundation was solid save religion, which was the Love of God. When this unshakable basis of the Love of God was established in the world, then inevitably would the structure of a new social justice rise, and a new individual love and justice."



The letter is printed in Star of the West, Vol. 2, No. 13, p. 12.



When Abdu'l-Baha was in Montreal he spoke to the Socialist Club, and following that wrote a letter to Mrs. Parsons, which explains how he thinks a grass roots mutual support system would work to reduce the sufferings of the less well off in hard times, for example where the harvest fails. I have translated this from the Persian original: unlike the various recorded talks on this subject, it is Bahai scripture. The letter is too long to copy here, but I have it on my blog at



http://senmcglinn.wordpress.com/2009/06/11/socialism/



The full text of the letter from Juliet Thompson that I quoted above is also on my blog, at



http://senmcglinn.wordpress.com/2009/09/25/by-lake-geneva/

Answer 3

Bahuallah was saying that Bahai is inclusive of all political ideologies. Bahai has a globalist perspective independent of any particular political philosophy. As a socialist, your thinking is quite harmonious, however, you don't have to be a socialist to be a Bahai.