This is a list of self or otherwise proclaimed socialists. Some of these people moved away from socialism, while others espoused other ideologies before turning to socialism. There are many different views of what constitute socialism, and most socialists would feel that some of the people on this list were not true socialists. The people on this list have been nominated because they claimed to be socialists, or were very widely perceived to be by others. When a person has shifted from being one kind of socialist to another (for example, from being a communist to being a social democrat), they appear under their most recent identification.

See also the list of anarchists.

Table of contents

1 Pioneer and utopian socialists 2 Democratic socialists 3 Communists 4 Dissident socialists 5 Third World and ex-Soviet Authoritarians 6 Socialist intellectuals 7 Extremist and terrorist leftists 8 Socialists who became fascists

Pioneer and utopian socialists

François-Noël Babeuf, Ernest Bax, Louis Blanc, Louis Blanqui, Robert Blatchford, Edward Carpenter, Friedrich Engels, Charles Fourier, Morris Hillquit, H. M. Hyndman, Peter Kropotkin, Ferdinand Lassalle, John Lilburne, Eleanor Marx, Karl Marx, Giuseppe Mazzini, William Morris, Robert Owen, Georgi Plekhanov, Pierre-Joseph Proudhon, Harry Quelch, Claude-Henri de Saint-Simon, George Bernard Shaw

Democratic socialists

(includes social democrats and Labor / Labour figures)

A. Iso Abe, Gerry Adams, Grantley Adams, Mari Alkatiri, Salvador Allende, Kenny Anthony, Jacobo Arbenz, Clement Attlee, Obafemi Awolowo

B. Natsagiyn Bagabandi, Sirimavo Bandaranaike, Solomon Bandaranaike, Ehud Barak, Agatha Barbara, José Batlle, Timoci Bavadra, Kim C Beazley, Kim E Beazley, August Bebel, David Ben-Gurion, Hillary Benn, Tony Benn, Pierre Bérégovoy, Paul Bérenger, Aneurin Bevan, Ernest Bevin, Istvan Bibo, Tony Blair, Léon Blum, Juan Bosch, Robert Bradshaw, Willy Brandt, Karl-Hjalmar Branting, Algirdas Brazauskas, Ed Broadbent, George Brown, Gordon Brown, Gro Harlem Brundtland, Alexander Bustamante, Tubal Uriah Butler

C. Jim Cairns, James Callaghan, Lorne Calvert, Arthur Calwell, Ingvar Carlsson, Barbara Castle, Milton Cato, Mathew Charlton, Mahendra Chaudhry, Hugo Chávez, Ben Chifley, Frederick Chiluba, Helen Clark, Major Coldwell, Jeremy Corbyn, Bettino Craxi, Frank Crean, Simon Crean, Edith Cresson, Stafford Cripps, Tony Crosland, Richard Crossman, John Curtin, Massimo D'Alema, Hugh Dalton, Luís Inácio Lula da Silva, John Clynes, Manuel Pinto da Costa

D. Moshe Dayan, Eugene Debs, Joop den Uyl, H. D. Deve Gowda, Donald Dewar, Gary Doer, Takako Doi, Denzil Douglas, Tommy Douglas, Willem Drees

E. Friedrich Ebert, Tage Erlander, Levi Eshkol, H V Evatt

F. Laurent Fabius, Karl-August Fagerholm, Ferenc Farkas, Zdenek Fierlinger, Dingle Foot, Michael Foot, Peter Fraser, Leonora Fulani

G. Hugh Gaitskell, George Galloway, Ralph Gonsalves, Felipe González, Bernie Grant, Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson, Joăo Goulart, Jules Guesde, Xanana Gusmăo, António Guterres

H. Hugo Haase, Tarja Halonen, Per Albin Hansson, Keir Hardie, Michael Harrington, Sheikh Hasina, Bob Hawke, Bill Hayden, Arthur Henderson, Harry Holland, Edward Hunter, Camille Huysmans

I. Kumba Ialá

J. Glenda Jackson, Cheddi Jagan, Janet Jagan, Bharrat Jagdeo, Thorbjřrn Jagland, Jean Jaurès, Roy Jenkins, Lionel Jospin, Anerood Jugnauth

K. Clements Kadalie, Modibo Keita, Mauno Koivisto, Paul Keating, Neil Kinnock, Norman Kirk, Wim Kok, Bruno Kreisky, Dennis Kucinich, Aleksander Kwasniewski

L. Jack Lang (Australia), Jack Lang (France), David Lange, George Lansbury, Francisco Largo Caballero, Mark Latham, Carmen Lawrence, Jack Layton, Edmond Leburton, David Lewis, Wilhelm Liebknecht, Anna Lindh, Paavo Lipponen, Ken Livingstone

M. Ramsay MacDonald, Alexa McDonough, Audrey McLaughlin, David McReynolds, Nelson Mandela, Peter Mandelson, Michael Manley, Milton Margai, Julius Martov, Pierre Mauroy, James Maxton, Thabo Mbeki, Tom Mboya, Golda Meir, Pierre Mendès-France, Alun Michael, Leszek Miller, Alexandre Millerand, Dom Mintoff, François Mitterrand, Guy Mollet, Mike Moore, Francisco Morazán, Rhodri Morgan, Herbert Morrison, Pierre Mulele, Hermann Müller, Said Musa, Levy Mwanawasa

N. Fatos Nano, Walter Nash, Edward Natapei, Juan Negrín, Jawaharlal Nehru, Maria das Neves

O. Punsalmaagiyn Ochirbat, Erich Ollenhauer, David Owen

P. Rafael Paasio, Olof Palme, Geoffrey Palmer, Andreas Papandreou, George Papandreou, Victor Paz Estenssoro, Shimon Peres, Göran Persson, Sandro Pertini, Pedro Pires

Q. Jânio Quadros

R. Yitzhak Rabin, Bob Rae, Navin Ramgoolam, Seewoosagur Ramgoolam, Ernesto Ramos Antonini, Poul Nyrup Rasmussen, Johannes Rau, John Reid, Karl Renner, Michel Rocard, Walter Rodney, Roy Romanow, Kevin Rudd, Arnold Rüütel

S. Jorge Sampaio, Bernie Sanders, Alfred Sant, Giuseppe Saragat, Michael Savage, Philipp Scheidemann, Willem Schermerhorn, Helmut Schmidt, Gerhard Schröder, Kurt Schumacher, James Scullin, Jim Sillars, Kostas Simitis, John Smith, Phillip Snowden, Mário Soares, Kalevi Sorsa, Paul-Henri Spaak, Benjamin Spock, Thorvald Stauning, Jens Stoltenberg, Aung San Suu Kyi

T. Väinö Tanner, Norman Thomas, Frank Tudor

U. Cassam Uteem

V. Achille Van Acker, Ronald Venetiaan

W. John Christian Watson, William Wedgwood Benn, John Wheatley, Gough Whitlam, Shirley Williams, Harold Wilson, James Woodsworth

Z. Hernán Siles Zuazo

Communists

(members of orthodox Communist parties)

Dolores Ibarruri

A. D. N. Aidit, Ramiz Alia, Anandyn Amar, Yuri Andropov, Kanson Arahata

B. Jyoti Basu, Jambyn Batmöhn, Lavrenty Beria, Enrico Berlinguer, Boleslaw Bierut, Maurice Bishop, Leonid Brezhnev, Earl Browder, Josip Broz Tito, Tim Buck, Nikolai Bukharin, Nikolay Bulganin

C. Fidel Castro, Nicolae Ceausescu, Oldrich Cerník, Konstantin Chernenko, Vulko Chervenkov, Khorloogiyn Choibalsan, Bernard Coard, Józef Cyrankiewicz

D. S. A. Dange, Angela Davis, Deng Xiaoping, Georgi Dimitrov, Milovan Djilas, Do Muoi, Alexander Dubcek, Jacques Duclos

F. Tetzuo Fuwa

G. William Gallacher, Erno Gero, Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej, Edward Gierek, Wladyslaw Gomulka, Klement Gottwald, Andrey Gromyko, Otto Grotewohl, Che Guevara

H. Gus Hall, Chris Hani, Denis Healey, Heng Samrin, Ho Chi Minh, Erich Honecker, Enver Hoxha, Hu Jintao, Hu Yaobang, Hua Guofeng, Gustáv Husák

I. Dolores Ibarruri, Ieng Sary

J. Piotr Jaroszewicz, Wojciech Jaruzelski, Jiang Qing, Jiang Zemin

K. Janos Kadar, Lazar Kaganovich, Mikhail Kalinin, Lev Kamenev, Stanislaw Kania, Nikita Khrushchev, Kim Il-Sung, Kim Jong-Il, Alexandra Kollontai, Aleksey Kosygin, Egon Krenz, Bela Kun

L. Le Duan, Le Kha Phieu, Vladimir Lenin, Li Dazhao, Li Peng, Karl Liebknecht, Lin Biao, Liu Shaoqi, Luigi Longo, Rosa Luxemburg

M. Georgy Malenkov, Tom Mann, Georges Marchais, Ion Gheorghe Maurer, Anastas Mikoyan, Kenji Miyamoto, Petur Mladenov, Mao Zedong, Slobodan Milosevic, Hans Modrow, Vyacheslav Molotov

N. Imre Nagy, Nguyen Van Linh, Nong Duc Manh, Antonín Novotný

O. Edward Ochab

P. Rajani Palme Dutt, Sylvia Pankhurst, Aristides Pereira, Pham Van Dong, Kaysone Phomvihane, Wilhelm Pieck, Nikolay Podgorny, Pol Pot, Harry Pollitt, Yevgeny Preobrazhensky

R. Karl Radek, Matyas Rakosi, Christian Rakovsky, Aleksey Rykov, Nikolai Ryzhkov

S. Mehmet Shehu, Eduard Shevardnadze, Kazuo Shii, Horst Sindermann, Khamtai Siphandon, Viliam Siroký, Marian Spychalski, Joseph Stalin, Willi Stoph, Lubomír Strougal, Mikhail Suslov, Ludvík Svoboda

T. Ernst Thälmann, Maurice Thorez, Nikolai Tikhonov, Stanko Todorov, Palmiro Togliatti, Truong Chinh, Yumjaagiyn Tsedenbal

U. Walter Ulbricht

V. Vladimir Voronin, Vo Van Kiet, Kliment Voroshilov

Z. Antonín Zápotocký, Zhao Ziyang, Todor Zhivkov, Zhou Enlai, Zhu De, Grigori Zinoviev

Dissident socialists

(anarchists, Trotskyists, syndicalists, etc.)

Martin Abern, Robert Barcia, Mikhail Bakunin, Daniel Bensaďd, Olivier Besancenot, James P. Cannon, Tony Cliff, Daniel Cohn-Bendit, James Connolly, Bob Crow, Daniel DeLeon, Farrell Dobbs, Hal Draper, Wang Fanxi, Paul Foot, Pierre Frank, Emma Goldman, Ted Grant, Bill Hayward, Gerry Healy, Irving Howe, Mother Jones, Helen Keller, David Komer, Alain Krivine, Arlette Laguiller, Pierre Lambert, Ken Loach, Guillermo Lora, Ernest Mandel, Sean Matgamna, Raymond Molinier, Nahuel Moreno, Pierre Naville, Andreu Nin, N. M. Perera, Harold Pinter, Juan Posadas, Michel Raptis, Vanessa Redgrave, Alfred Rosmer, Sacco and Vanzetti, Arthur Scargill, Leon Sedov, Natalia Sedova, Mark Serwotka, Max Shachtman, Tommy Sheridan, Maurice Spector, Mark Steel, Ta Tu Thau, Mark Thomas, Alan Thornett, Ricky Tomlinson, Leon Trotsky, Esteban Volkov, David Widgery

Third World and ex-Soviet Authoritarians

Askar Akayev, Heydar Aliyev, Hafizullah Amin, Juan José Arévalo, Jean-Bertrand Aristide, Bashar al-Assad, Hafez al-Assad, Mohammed Siad Barre, Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, Ahmed Ben Bella, Chadli Bendjedid, Houari Boumedienne, Habib Bourguiba, Forbes Burnham, Luís Cabral, Joaquim Chissano, Blaise Compaoré, Moktar Ould Daddah, Abdou Diouf, José Eduardo dos Santos, Joseph Kabila, Laurent Kabila, Islam Karimov, Babrak Karmal, Mathieu Kérékou, Lee Kuan Yew, Pascal Lissouba, Alexander Lukashenko, Patrice Lumumba, Samora Machel, Francisco Macías Nguema, Alphonse Massamba-Débat, Léon M'ba, Meles Zenawi, Mengistu Haile Mariam, Michel Micombero, Francisco Morales Bermúdez, Robert Mugabe, Mohammad Najibullah, Gamal Abdel Nasser, Ne Win, Agostinho Neto, Marien Ngouabi, Gaafar Nimeiry, Saparmurat Niyazov, Kwame Nkrumah, Sam Nujoma, Julius Nyerere, Daniel Ortega, Mu'ammar Al Qathafi, Emomali Rahmonov, Didier Ratsiraka, Jerry Rawlings, France-Albert René, Saddam Hussein, Augusto Sandino, Thomas Sankara, Denis Sassou-Nguesso, Léopold Sédar Senghor, Siaka Stevens, Sukarno, Nur Mohammad Taraki, Maaouya Ould Sid'Ahmed Taya, Ahmed Sékou Touré, Juan Velasco Alvarado, Emiliano Zapata

Socialist intellectuals

(who may well also have been members of parties, but are best known as intellectuals)

Mumia Abu-Jamal, Theodor Adorno, Louis Althusser, Walter Benjamin, J. D. Bernal, Amílcar Cabral, Noam Chomsky, G. D. H. Cole, Milovan Djilas, W. E. B. Du Bois, Albert Einstein, Antonio Gramsci, Jürgen Habermas, J. B. S. Haldane, Mohammad Hatta, Eric Hobsbawm, Max Horkheimer, Takuboku Ishikawa, C. L. R. James, Karl Kautsky, Harold Laski, Jack London, Georg Lukács, John Maclean, Herbert Marcuse, Dashdorjiin Natsagdorj, Pablo Neruda, Alfred Orage, George Orwell, Anton Pannekoek, John Reed, Walter Rodney, Victor Serge, E. P. Thompson, Beatrice Webb, Sidney Webb, H. G. Wells, Raymond Williams, Howard Zinn

Extremist and terrorist leftists

(leaders of self-proclaimed leftist terrorist groups; most would argue that the actions of the following people are inherently anti-socialist)

Domingo Iturbe Abasolo "Txomin," Mikel Albizu "Mikel Antza," Ignacio Gracia Arregui "Ińaki de Rentería," José Astorquiza "Pottoka," Andreas Baader, Sabri al-Banna "Abu Nidal," Dipankar Bhattacharya, Jorge Briceno "Mono Jojoy," Mofakkar Chowdhury, Pushpan Kamal Dahal "Comrade Prachanda," Hagop Hagopian, Francisco Javier Garcia Gaztelu "Txapote," Abimael Guzmán, Naif Hawatmeh, Alberto Félix López de Lacalle "Mobutu," Julen Madariaga, Subcomandante Marcos, Manuel Marulanda "Tirofijo," Ulrike Meinhof, Gino Perente, Fusako Shigenobu, José María Benito del Valle

Socialists who became fascists

Marcel Déat, Jacques Doriot, Lyndon LaRouche, Oswald Mosley, Benito Mussolini, Corneliu Vadim Tudor, Vladimir Zhirinovsky