Editing State ownership (section)

== Relation to socialism ==
{{see also|Social ownership|State socialism}}
Public ownership of the [[means of production]] is a subset of [[social ownership]], which is the defining characteristic of a [[socialist]] economy. However, state ownership and nationalization by themselves are not socialist, as they can exist under a wide variety of different [[Political system|political]] and [[economic system]]s for a variety of different reasons. State ownership by itself does not imply social ownership where income rights belong to society as a whole. As such, state ownership is only one possible expression of public ownership, which itself is one variation of the broader concept of social ownership.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Hastings |last2=Mason |last3=Pyper |first1=Adrian |first2=Alistair |first3=Hugh |title=The Oxford Companion to Christian Thought |publisher=Oxford University Press |date=December 21, 2000 |isbn=978-0198600244 |page=[https://archive.org/details/oxfordcompaniont00hast/page/677 677] |quote=Socialists have always recognized that there are many possible forms of social ownership of which co-operative ownership is one. Nationalization in itself has nothing particularly to do with socialism and has existed under non-socialist and anti-socialist regimes. Kautsky in 1891 pointed out that a ‘co-operative commonwealth’ could not be the result of the ‘general nationalization of all industries’ unless there was a change in ‘the character of the state’. |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/oxfordcompaniont00hast/page/677 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Ellman |first=Michael |title=Socialist Planning |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=1989 |isbn=0-521-35866-3 |page=327 |quote=State ownership of the means of production is not necessarily social ownership and state ownership can hinder efficiency.}}</ref>

In the context of socialism, public ownership implies that the [[surplus product]] generated by publicly owned assets accrues to all of society in the form of a [[social dividend]], as opposed to a distinct class of private capital owners. There is a wide variety of organizational forms for state-run industry, ranging from specialized technocratic management to direct [[workers' self-management]]. In traditional conceptions of non-market socialism, public ownership is a tool to consolidate the means of production as a precursor to the establishment of [[economic planning]] for the allocation of resources between organizations, as required by government or by the state.

State ownership is advocated as a form of social ownership for practical concerns, with the state being seen as the obvious candidate for owning and operating the means of production. Proponents assume that the state, as the representative of the [[public interest]], would manage resources and production for the benefit of the public.<ref>{{cite book |last=Arnold |first=Scott |title=The Philosophy and Economics of Market Socialism: A Critical Study |url=https://archive.org/details/philosophyeconom00arno |url-access=limited |publisher=Oxford University Press |date=1994 |isbn=978-0195088274 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/philosophyeconom00arno/page/n58 44] |quote=For a variety of philosophical and practical reasons touched on in chapter 1, the most obvious candidate in modern societies for that role has been the state. In the past, this led socialists to favor nationalization as the primary way of socializing the means of production…The idea is that just as private ownership serves private interests, public or state ownership would serve the public interest.}}</ref> As a form of social ownership, state ownership may be contrasted with cooperatives and common ownership. Socialist theories and political ideologies that favor state ownership of the means of production may be labelled [[state socialism]].

State ownership was recognized by [[Friedrich Engels]] in ''Socialism: Utopian and Scientific'' as, by itself, not doing away with capitalism, including the process of [[capital accumulation]] and structure of wage labor. Engels argued that state ownership of commercial industry would represent the final stage of capitalism, consisting of ownership and management of large-scale production and manufacture by the state.<ref>{{cite web |author=Frederick Engels |url=http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1880/soc-utop/ch03.htm |title=Socialism: Utopian and Scientific (Chpt. 3) |publisher=[[Marxists.org]] |access-date=2014-01-08}}</ref>

Within the United Kingdom, public ownership is mostly associated with the [[Labour Party (UK)|Labour Party]] (a [[centre-left]] [[democratic socialist]] party), specifically due to the creation of [[Clause IV]] of the "Labour Party Manifesto" in 1918. "Clause IV" was written by [[Fabian Society]] member [[Sidney Webb]].

[[File:Valsts ipasums lit 1.jpg|thumb|A plaque marking state property in [[Jūrmala]]]]