Municipal Socialism
Municipal socialism or community socialism is a research term from economic and urban planning history . It is made up of municipium (Latin for commune / municipality) and socialism in the sense of collective state ownership of companies .
Development in the time of industrialization
Efforts on the part of municipal administrations to bring infrastructure companies under the control of state administrations for the benefit of all residents are referred to as municipal socialism. The aim is to achieve access for the entire population to an infrastructure at a socially acceptable price without aiming for profit maximization. This process took place in particular in the second half of the 19th century and in the first third of the 20th century - i.e. at the same time as widespread urbanization and mechanization - and primarily affected infrastructure companies such as electricity , gas and waterworks , but also areas such as street cleaning , garbage disposal , Hospitals , slaughterhouses and tram companies. In some of these areas it had previously been shown that the free market of competing companies could not offer satisfactory solutions (e.g. construction of competing infrastructure networks within a city (electricity, water, gas, tram) with connections only for those who are there economically). The communalization of the infrastructure was accompanied by the beginning of scientific urban planning, which wanted to answer the social question of the 19th century with technical solutions, for example to improve hygiene. The concept of municipal socialism originated in Great Britain and was also able to establish itself in Germany , France and most other European countries. In Germany and Austria, the urban infrastructure companies were mostly bundled in municipal utilities and still exist today.
See also
literature
- Wolfgang R. Krabbe: Municipal Socialism and Intervention State. The expansion of urban service administration in the German Empire . In: History in Science and Education 30, 1979, pp. 265–283.
- Uwe Kühl (ed.): The municipal socialism in Europe. Paris, 2001. ISBN 978-3-486-56608-6 . Online at perspectivia.fr